I woke up this morning and was so excited to see one email in my box. Turns out to be something to do with stocks. Not funny!
Deds:
cookiemonsterks - I would have put you in chapter three, but your review came in two minutes after I posted it! Can you belive that? I'm sorry! But yes, there is a fight coming up, so we're not at peace for long! heeheeheehee.
Kitsune's Lover - ...Yes, you may have more. I think you have to be related by blood for incest to happen...I'm pretty sure. For my purposes you do! wink!
yume-hime - Think so? I laugh all the way through! Wait no more, my friend!
anime-lover-forever2007 - Okay, you need to settle down!! I'm freaked out, but I hate to withhold anything from good reviewers. So, even though you are one impatient Patty, I will give you what you want - what we all want! Hahahaha!
Sweet Temptation
Saturday morning was a flurry of activity for the Higurashi family. Each girl had at least two bags of stuff for one weekend at the cottage, and Kagome tried vainly to stuff it all in the car, but was failing miserably.
"Okay, Kikyou, one of your bags has got to go! I can't fit all five in here!"
"Fine, give me the blue one," she grumbled, and took out what she really needed and stuffed it into her shoulder bag, which was bulging by now.
Ayame laughed at her sister. "Kikyou, we're going to be gone two days, not two weeks."
Kikyou stuck out her tongue. "I don't care! I refuse to go anywhere without my most necessary possessions!"
"By the looks of it, everything you own is your most necessary possession!" Sango teased, and ducked as her sister tried to punch her shoulder.
"That's enough, you three! Rin, are you ready?"
"Yes, Kagome." She had one bag.
"Oh, thank God you know the meaning of the words, 'pack light'," she huffed, jamming Rin's bag into a tiny space in the corner of the trunk.
Just then, Sesshoumaru came outside, and, hands in his pockets, strolled up to Kagome. "Hey, Kagome."
She turned to smile at him. "Hi, Sesshoumaru. You going to come up with us?"
He smiled back. "Yeah, I thought I might. You need a hand?"
"Yeah. Can you get this last bag strapped to the roof? Kikyou refuses to leave her life behind."
She smiled fondly at her younger sister, who only raised a brow, then turned away, to answer a text message on her phone.
"Sure, I'll get some bungee cord." He turned and ran back into his house. Kagome watched, a warm feeling spreading in her stomach. He was so hot…
"Kagome?" Kikyou was tugging her sleeve.
"What?"
"Can Kagura come with us?" Kagura was Kikyou's best friend, and lived three doors down the street, past the Taisho's. She'd had it bad for Sesshoumaru as long as Kagome could remember, even though she was four years younger. Vivacious and outgoing, she thought maybe having Kagura around would keep Kikyou's spirit up.
"Sure, if you don't mind sharing a seatbelt," she said, recounting heads. "Yup, you'll have to share."
"Thanks, Kags!"
"Don't thank me yet," she muttered under her breath. If Kagura tried anything at all on Sesshoumaru…she didn't know what she'd do, but she'd be really mad, that much was for certain.
Sesshoumaru came back, several yards of cord in hand. After he had strapped Kikyou's bag, and a huffing Kagura's bag, to the roof of the car, he took Kagome aside and said, "Are you taking Kagura in your car? You have enough seatbelts for that?"
Kagome knew she didn't but was willing to risk it as long as Sesshoumaru didn't wind up alone with Kagura in his car.
"It's fine," she said, trying to block his view of the car's interior.
"You do not. Look, I'll get ready, and follow you guys up. Some one can come with me."
Inuyasha, Kouga, Miroku, and Shippo all came rushing out of the house then, saying, "I'll go! I'll go! Pick me!"
Kagome had to laugh at the expression on Sesshoumaru's face; his brothers sure knew how to rain on his parade!
Daichi followed them out and said, "You boys get the hell back in the house and quit bugging the girls! I told you we'd go up later this afternoon!"
Sesshoumaru smiled evilly at his brothers. Take that, you monsters…
Kagome said, "Oh, that's alright, Mr. Taisho, they weren't bugging us." Her sisters all giggled at her observation. Daichi smiled at her.
"I know, but we had this discussion already. If they want to go so bad, they should be packed and ready to take their own car, not harassing you while you're trying to get organised." He looked pointedly at his four youngest sons, who shuffled their feet, but didn't stop grinning.
Sango rolled her eyes and said, "Come on girls, let's blow this pop sickle stand! We're wasting precious beach time!"
Getting into the car, Kagura caught Sesshoumaru's eye in passing and licked her lips at him. He gave away nothing in his expression, but inwardly, he was kinda freaked out. Kagura was pretty, but she was way too young for him!
Kagome smiled at him as he closed her door for her. "Safe drive," he said, and she said, "Thanks. See you up there."
With a squeal of tires, the girls were off, the Taisho boys staring after them.
S.T.
As soon as the Higurashi girls and Kagura had left, Inuyasha ran into the house, threw some clothes in a bag, and threw that into the hatchback, climbing behind the wheel and announcing, "I'm ready! Hurry up, you guys!"
Shippo, deciding he would rather go with his Father, sat down to watch T.V. until Daichi was ready to go. Miroku and Kouga speed-packed, throwing stuff so haphazardly into their bags that Miroku's zipper got stuck on a sweater halfway across and Kouga's zipper broke open, so he duct-taped it shut.
Sesshoumaru leaned on the hood of the black hatchback as he spoke to Inuyasha, waiting for his brothers to come out.
"Inuyasha, I'll be right behind you. No hitting on Kagome tonight, you understand me?"
Inuyasha frowned; what right did Sesshoumaru have to tell who he could and could not hit on? Suddenly, a golden thought occurred to his dense little mind: was Sesshoumaru in love with Kagome?
He smiled evilly at his older brother. "What do you mean, Sesshoumaru? Are you trying to tell me your putting in a dib on her?"
Sesshoumaru pulled back a lip in a snarl. "I am. You got that?"
Inuyasha blinked. His brother could be blunt sometimes, but never really mean, or intimidating. But his actions just now sent a tingle of fear up his spine so cold he decided to agree, if only to soothe Sesshoumaru's ruffled feathers.
"Sure, big bro, no problem," he said, crossing the fingers of the hand his brother couldn't see.
Laying a fist on the horn, he yelled, "Hurry up!"
Sesshoumaru turned away, and started his Mustang. Rolling down the windows, he let it idle and get to blowing cool air as he ran into the house to pack a few things. Amazingly, he was out before Miroku and Kouga, who were busily searching for the duct tape. Daichi had taken a seat next to Shippo on the couch, and they were watching Wheel of Fortune and eating potato chips.
Jumping into the mustang, Sesshoumaru leaned over the passenger seat and yelled, "My bad, looks like you'll be following me!" and backed out onto the street, his engine revving as he stepped on the gas, and sped at a breakneck speed around the corner.
Inuyasha scowled, and laid on the horn again. Show-off…
S.T.
Forty-five minutes and much screaming, singing, and laughing later, the girls pulled into the driveway of the Taisho's spacious split-level cottage, the Sea of Japan visible over the sand dunes surrounding the property.
"Wow," Kagome said when she got out of the car, shielding her eyes from the sun.
"How does a single Dad like Mr. Taisho afford a cottage this nice?"
"I think someone left it to him, Kikyou."
"Oh."
Kagome opened the trunk and began throwing bags at their respective owners; most of them wound up in a pile in the sand.
Picking up their stuff, they trooped inside, unlocking the door and taking off their shoes on the porch outside. Stepping in, they were awestruck by the beauty of the place, even though it hadn't been used in over five years, not since Mrs. Taisho left.
They looked at each other and smiled; dropping their bags, they ran all over, exploring the place from top to bottom. There was a loft on the upper floor, and a breakfast nook in the kitchen. An all-around fireplace stood in the middle of the living room, its chimney climbing all the way up to the vaulted ceiling.
Pictures of the family hung all over, and Kagome found one of the boys when they were small, their Mother holding them all in her lap. She'd been a beautiful woman, Kagome thought. I wonder what would cause her to leave such a wonderful family behind?
A revving could be heard outside, and Kikyou, closest to a window, squealed, "Sesshoumaru's here! Guess he couldn't wait to see us again, eh Kagome?" she winked.
Kagome chuckled. "Kikyou, do you even know the meaning of the word 'subtle'?"
Kikyou smiled and stuck out her tongue as Sesshoumaru ran through the door, huffing.
All the girls turned out to meet him, and Kagura, hooding her eyes, strolled past him, saying, "Nice to see you again so soon, Sesshoumaru."
He watched her walk away, thinking that there wasn't a shy bone in her body, when Kagome smiled and made him forget all about Kagura. Kagura scowled at his reaction to her, but resolved to keep trying. A man's resistance could only last so long.
He walked straight to Kagome, and seemed to forget they were being watched as he took her hand in his.
"Want me to unstrap your stuff from the car?"
Kagome was speechless, but she soon found her tongue in time to say, "Sure," without looking like a retard.
He smiled and promised, "I'll be right back."
As soon as he left, Kagome clapped her hands and said, "Okay ladies, haul buns and get your stuff to your rooms. I want you all settled in in half an hour or less."
Kikyou groaned; that would be impossible! But everyone else nodded, climbing the stairs.
Kagura gave Kagome a look on the way past - a look Kagome didn't care for at all, but her own expression did not change. What's up with her? she thought, never breaking eye contact with the younger girl. She had a feeling she'd just made an enemy of her little sister's best friend.
S.T.
Inuyasha passed another car; two old people who were putsing along at seventy. He was starting to get frustrated.
"Move it, Grandpa!" he yelled, leaving them in his dust.
"Inuyasha, calm down," Miroku soothed, though he was just as anxious as his twin.
Kouga laughed from the backseat. "Inuyasha's just in a hurry to get into Kagome's pants before Sesshoumaru does!"
Inuyasha turned his head for a split second to snarl, "And you're not?" in the mirror.
Kouga remained silent.
"That's what I thought you said." Inuyasha put his attention back to the road. Miroku changed the radio station, and Kouga suddenly asked over the din, "Hey Inuyasha, I thought you liked Kikyou?"
Miroku looked at his twin from the corner of his eye. What would Inuyasha say?
Gripping the wheel as tightly as he could, he responded through clenched teeth, "I do like her. Just fine."
"He just can't stand competition. He sees Sesshoumaru getting somewhere with Kagome, the hot stripper, and suddenly he decides, 'Oh, she's hot, I want her for myself.' I know how you feel, I suffer from the same affliction." Miroku explained.
"Will you two shut up?" Inuyasha screamed, pulling his own hair. He looked at the clock on the dash. Twenty more minutes.
God help him get them there without killing them.
S.T.
Ohhh, I'm so excited to post what's gonna happen next, but I need reviews before I do, or the story train runs out of coal, know what I'm saying? Souls, souls! I need...I mean, Reviews! I need Reviews!!!!REVIEW FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!!! Heeheeheehee.