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 Be Courted by the Devil
Kagome started to feel idiotic to be in awe of everything that happened in the goddamned restaurant. No sooner did the words leave Inuyasha's lips, cocktail dancers began swaying through the dining hall, trailing feathers across certain guests' cheeks, and planting kisses on the others. Inuyasha was in his element, exuding confidence and sheer masculinity. It was odd that she felt safe in his presence but Kagome was most certain that he somehow performed some form of voodoo to have her feel so at ease. There could've been no explanation other than that; she wasn't the type of woman to swoon at the feet of attractive men and, although she wasn't swooning, she felt like she was betraying her femininity by allowing herself to feel safe in his presence.
One of the cocktail dancer's placed a tulip on Kagome's plate and two of them kissed either of Inuyasha's cheeks. He did nothing but wink at them. One of them giggled and blushed, allowing Kagome to get the impression that the dancer had an itty bitty crush on him.
Why can't he just marry her?
When the initial show was over with, Kagome noticed a raven haired beauty approached the centre of the dining hall with a microphone in hand.
"Midoriko?" She whispered.
Inuyasha nodded and took a languid sip of his wine.
"Good evening honourable guests!" Midoriko's authoritative voice reverberated around the dining hall. "And thank you for giving me the honour of your presence in the grand opening of Honekui no Ido! I am excited to be serving you the best of the best dishes that I have taken years to cultivate and perfect. All ingredients are fresh: fine ripe fruits and vegetables, freshly caught fish—you name it, we have it." Midoriko looked at each and every single one of her guests, beaming and glowing out of pure excitement. Kagome was beginning to feel excited for her. It was almost tangible.
Midoriko turned and her eyes landed on Inuyasha. Her smile broadened further. "I want to give a particular special mention to my Guest of Honour tonight, Mister Takahashi Inuyasha, co-founder of Taisho Pharmaceutical, owner of Goshinboku Nightclub, and CEO of Takahashi Group of Companies, Half Demon Enterprises, and Dog General Freight Limited." Kagome almost face planted; he wasn't lying about the guest of honour quip.
"And, as a special treat, Takahashi has brought his lovely fiancée, Higurashi Kagome!"
The blood drained from her face and she could hear her temple pounding. Everything was in slow motion; she turned her head in time to see Inuyasha turned his head to look at hers. Their eyes met and she was aware of the shock that defied his confident aura. Fiancée…?
In the distance she could hear the crowd applauding them. Inuyasha stood up and adjusted the blazer of his suit before extending his arm out to Kagome. She looked down at his arm and back up to his eyes. Fiancée?!
She wanted to slap his arm away, flip the table, and run out of the restaurant. She wanted to kick and scream and swear at him with words that would make a sailor blush. She wanted to tell him to shove his proposal where the sun don't shine—
But, least of all, she didn't want to make a scene in his world with him being the guest of honour. She wasn't naïve, Kagome knew that Inuyasha was exercising a substantial amount of patience when it came to her and although she pushed him to his limits and irritated him 99.9% of the time, she didn't want to do something that would give him reason to punish her. So, Kagome did the next best thing: she took his arm, plastered on a fake smile, and avoided eye contact with everyone in the room.
She'd give him his moment right there, but he'd suffer afterwards.
.xx.
The car ride home was painstakingly quiet. Kagome didn't say a single word to Inuyasha after Midoriko introduced her as his fiancée. She ate her food, spoke to the waiter, and avoided him at all cost which was quite the feat, seeing as he was sitting literally two feet away from her at the same table. Inuyasha knew she was upset, that would go without saying. He had taken the liberty to tell Midoriko that he would be in attendance with his wonderful fiancée, Higurashi Kagome. It was his way of allowing the people in his world to know that she was under his protection, and a way for Naraku to find out through the grapevine.
Should he have told her first?
Absolutely.
If he could go back in time would he do things different?
Definitely not.
Ginta pulled the car up in front of the shrine and Kagome got out of the car before the vehicle could come to a full stop. Inuyasha was anticipating for Kagome to do something along the lines of throwing herself out of a moving vehicle, so he was quicker to exit the car and intercepted her before she could begin stomping up the steps that led to her shrine.
"Kag—"
"Higurashi." She spat while trying to side step him. "You can call me Higurashi."
He wasn't surprised.
"Kagome, listen to me."
"No!" She whirled onto him. "No. I am not listening to you. What right do you have to tell anybody that I'm your fiancée? Last I checked you were in the process of convincing me to marry you but guess what buddy! It's never going to happen."
"Will you listen to me, wench?"
The deafening echo of a slap filled Inuyasha's ear. His head snapped violently to the left and, out of sheer habit, he pulled out his gun. Fortunately he had more sense than to point it at Kagome; it simply sat lifeless in his right hand. "Do not call me wench, do not call me ever again, and do not entertain the fucking thought that I will marry you."
Inuyasha was in a world beyond the realm of shock. Kagome took that to her advantage and stormed off quickly, wanting to be in the sanctuary of her home before he recuperated. The burning image of Midoriko calling her the fiancée would be forever etched in to her brain, the peripheral image of Inuyasha pulling his gun out of his holster would probably be up there beside the image of Midoriko.
"Asshole." She snarled while stepping in to the shrine. She didn't even bother looking back at him. He could go to Hades in a handbag for all she cared.
"ASSHOLE!" Screamed once more, for good measure.
.xx.
Kouga was rolling on the floor laughing, but Miroku remained composed. Inuyasha's cheek was red (and throbbing, but he wasn't about to tell his wingmen that). He had to tell them what the hell happened – at least before Ginta told them – and much to his chagrin, his wingmen found absolute amusement in his pain. What amused Kouga was that Inuyasha was able to have any woman writhe underneath him, but he was struggling to court the one woman that counted.
"What the hell possessed you to introduce her as your fiancée?!" Kouga heckled. "Do you understand the godsend you had when she allowed you to practically date her?! You put your foot in your ass with that one."
"Shut up, Kouga." Miroku snorted. "We need to analyze the situation and –"
"What's there to analyze? Our boss is a tactless jellyfish!"
A vein pounded in Inuyasha's forehead and, before anybody could anticipate it, he threw his shoe at Kouga which hit him square on the forehead. That straightened him up real fast. Wordlessly, Kouga tossed Inuyasha's shoe back at him. "So what now?" Kouga said in a voice that was opposite his state five seconds ago.
Inuyasha grunted. "The hell if I know. I'm getting tired of her shit."
"You did—"
"I did what was best for her."
Miroku shook his head. "No. You did what you thought was best for her. Maybe if you tell us why you need to mar—"
Inuyasha cut him off. "No. I am not telling anybody why, you just need to know that I do."
"She won't be saying 'I do' with your shitty personality." Kouga muttered. "Maybe you should've introduced her as your girlfriend."
"I knew she was feisty," Inuyasha ignored Kouga. He usually did. "But to that extent? Her attitude is starting to piss me off."
"Put yourself in her shoes," Miroku reasoned. "You're invading her life, made her sell her family home to pay you back a loan that was mere pocket change for you, and now you are demanding to marry her for an unknown reason that you claim is so life threatening that if she doesn't marry you, the Higurashi name will be wiped from the earth completely."
If only you knew half of the story. "Thank you for telling me what I already know." Inuyasha poured himself whiskey on the rocks. He needed to stop thinking about the size of the balls Kagome must've had to slap probably the most dangerous man she would ever meet. "Now tell me what I need to know to rectify this. That is why I hired you both."
Kouga rolled his eyes. "I was hired to eliminate threats. You hired Miroku for the brain work."
Miroku rubbed his temples. "Couldn't you just marry—"
"Kagome." Inuyasha's eyes flashed. "I will marry Kagome even if it's by fucking force."
"We all saw where force got you the last time."
"I swear on your unborn goddamn children, Kouga," Inuyasha bellowed, standing up. He was beginning to see red he was so angry. "One more word out of your mouth and Miroku's gonna have to clean up your brain splattered on my wall!"
Kouga zipped the proverbial zipper over his mouth. He knew what Inuyasha was capable of, even if what he said was probably an empty threat. The man was known to put money where his mouth was…
"I think you should do what she intended for you to do to begin with." Miroku started slowly. "Court… her…" He said the last two words very slowly, watching Inuyasha's emotions play on his face. Kouga was waiting with bated breath, wanting to see what Inuyasha did to Miroku for making such a blasphemous suggestion. A clock ticked in the distance…
Tick
Tock
Tick
Tock
"How do you propose I do that?" Inuyasha said slowly. "She won't even answer my phone calls…"
It was true, he called three times and she sent it all to voicemail. Being ignored by a woman was a first for Inuyasha and he wasn't sure he liked it much.
.xx.
Jackass to the power of infinity calling
Kagome pressed ignore.
Jackass to the power of infinity calling
Kagome pressed ignore again.
Jackass to—
"For the love of." She pressed ignore and went ahead to block his number. Finally, peace and quiet.
.xx.
"Show her you care. Even if you don't." Miroku tagged that last bit on as an afterthought. Inuyasha poured himself another glass of whiskey.
"Whatever gave you the impression I don't?" Inuyasha cocked an eyebrow. "I'm marrying the wench because I care."
Kouga wanted to throttle his boss but decided the brains being blasted out of his head was not worth it. He could be a lethal hit man, but when it came to his boss Kouga was at a loss of what to do. He was a master of mind games, an assassin in the night… but Inuyasha was always one step better than him.
"Maybe you should tell—"
"I feel like a broken record. I can't, won't, and refuse to tell her." Inuyasha's tone held a note of finality. "No room for arguments." His cell phone rang and he saw it was Hakkaku, Ginta's twin brother and his IT expert in his underground ring of infamy.
"Takahahshi."
"Managed to hack Sweden's central banks."
"Good."
"It's been wired to Thailand and being rerouted through Hong Kong before coming here."
Inuyasha nodded. "Good. Do we have the cargo ships on route to New York?"
"Yep."
"Excellent. Bye."
Inuyasha shoved his phone back in his pocket and didn't disclose the details of his conversation to his wingmen. Sure he trusted him a lot, but not enough… not nearly enough. Although I think I'll use Kouga's infatuation with Genevieve to my advantage… Always thinking like a business man, even when he wasn't formally working.
"What were you saying?" He looked over at Miroku.
His wingman shrugged. "Buy her flowers? Make her feel special? Apologize?"
Apologize? The corner of his lips tugged. He had never apologized to anybody. The last time he uttered the word sorry, it was to his mother while she was on his deathbed. He was apologizing for failing as son…
"If marrying her is so important, as you claim, then swallowing your pride and apologizing for stepping out of bound should not be difficult." Miroku picked up his phone, which began ringing half way through his sentence. It was his girlfriend.
"Hey babe, in a meeting with Kouga and Inuyasha. Give me ten minutes? Okay sounds good. Bye."
Miroku stood up. "If we're done here, gentlemen, I have an important meeting to attend to with Nazuna. Think about what I said, boss."
Inuyasha didn't react and Miroku took the chance to leave. Kouga stared at Inuyasha for a minute longer before standing up and dusting off his pants. "I agree with the lecher." He began. "If marrying her is so important, you have to show her just how important she is. Clearly demanding her to do things won't work, you might need a subtle approach."
Inuyasha was never good with subtle.
Kouga took his leave and Inuyasha stared at the cackling fireplace in his office for an untracked amount of time. Finally, coming to a conclusion in his mind, he stood up and walked over to his office phone. He could tell Kagome blocked his cell number; it kept going to voicemail, so he would have to take an alternative approach. He pulled her number from his phone and punched it in to the dialling pad.
Her phone rang three times before she answered.
"Hello?"
"We need to talk."
.xx.
Hi :) Tell me what you think! I'm beginning to enjoy where this story is headed hehe… *whispers* long review!