Simply Business Chapter 26, an inuyasha fanfic

A.N. Okay. Yeah. I'm lazy… I'm a high school graduate (I'm soo oldddd) and a college freshman. Which means I have until September 8th (though technically the 30th of August if I'm productive) before I make myself a disappointing liar (after all I did say I was going to finish all of my stories before classes started). I'd like to thank you all for reviewing even when chapters weren't be produced, and it's very cool, I definitely must say, to see fresh new faces to this fic. It was actually seeing those reviews that pushed this chapter. I had a lot of trouble finishing this chapter, which is putting it lightly, but reviews are inspiring. A special thanks to KrazyRunya for the most recent 'get off my ass' review.

Simply Business 26

(Tsuki)

"So wonderful to be home! This place is so enticing—it was so very hard to stay away for even a mere few weeks."

"If I have to listen to that idiotic drivel, I swear to God, that we are going to have some problems."

"You Americans—"

"We were born in the same damn country, idiot! I'm no more American than you are European!"

"Blasphemy! The uncouth don't have the right to be in such a magnificent—"

Sesshoumaru scowled. It was as if they were reciting a script. He rubbed his temple. How was it possible for those two to have the same conversation over and over again each year?

'Argument,' he corrected himself. Conversations were civil and perhaps tolerable. This was perhaps certifiable verbal ear-rape. But it brought about an even better question: how was it possible for one's stupidity to out rank even Inuyasha's.

But now that he was on the subject of the borderline mentally incapable and notably god-awful conversationalists, his mind instantly drifted to Japan. More specifically, his thoughts drifted to a raven haired girl who inhabited his home after noon.

An odd smile drifted to his face.

'I wonder…. What could possibly be worse than thongs?'

Inu Taisho mused, "You're exceptionally quiet this year, Sesshoumaru. By now you would have been down their throats about their bickering. Or at least looked somewhat infuriated," his father added as he noted the slightly amused tone to his son's appearance.

Sesshoumaru snapped back into the present and without missing a beat, quipped, "Why bother? It seems to be lulling those two to sleep." He nodded his head towards Rin and Shippou who were seated in the back of their rental car. Shippou was in a booster seat and Rin was securely fastened in the third row.

Inu Taisho cringed as he drove, "I officially feel like a grandfather, you know. Your mother would have loved to see me behind the wheel of a minivan."

The younger of the two smirked, "As could be said for just about anyone who knows you."

"Well especially, her." He chuckled. He looked over at Sesshoumaru, "I miss her a lot around this time. That's the only reason I do this, you know. The companies are all impeccable in their own rights—I have no doubt about that. But it's just nice to be around family when her anniversary comes around."

Sesshoumaru scoffed, "And Kuranosuke?"

"Well it helps keep up the guise of company check up. Sure I could just say that I need to spend time with my sons, but that would make me feel needed. Besides, Takeda's not really a very….unlikeable young man though."

In the dubious silence that followed, the two were able to hear the rest of the argument that was going on in the middle seats.

"At least here we speak of concepts like Fraternité and Equalité—all you have is your damned oil!"

"You prick, that's France! We're in the UK!"

"I'm sorry; I cannot hear you over the sound of dropping bombs!"

Inu Taisho cleared his throat. "Occasionally." He smiled a bit, "But it's still just nice to have my sons and grandchildren with me, idiotic policies aside."

Sesshoumaru ignored the teasing urge to point out that it was a forced arrangement. In reality though, it wasn't at all. Neither he, nor Inuyasha were really chained to doing this every year. Even Kuranosuke had the freedom to stop participating in the inspections of he wanted to. Somewhere, down deep in the pit of his soul, although he dreaded 'inspection', he knew he enjoyed the time more so than that dread. In addition to that, it did help somewhat, when the twenty-ninth came around.

"Why do you choose the days leading up to the date? I suppose I've become curious about why you never make up an excuse to see me each year."

"I don't know about you, but I have my own private way of coping and I'd rather not have to see anyone then. Izayoi, as always, is the only exception."

"You've become soft in your old age, father."

Inu Taisho looked pained at being called old. After a moment he huffed, "Well then, the same can be said about you son. You seem to be taking your time courting that sweet girl from earlier. That's rare."

"Courting?" Sesshoumaru repeated with an incredulous drawl. "I don't believe I am courting anyone. After all, this is the twenty-first century and that term just so happened to have died off with medieval times."

Inu Taisho rolled his eyes and said impatiently, "Whatever you kids call it. I'm sure you know what I mean."

"I am sure," his son replied in a mocking fashion, "I have no romantic feelings of any kinds towards that girl, if that's what you're implying." He snorted, "And undoubtedly, the feeling is very mutual."

"If you're worried about whether your mother would have liked her—"

Sesshoumaru suddenly said in a low but sharp tone, "That's enough, father. Mother has been mentioned enough times for one conversation."

Inu Taisho took his eyes off the road. "All I am trying to say is that I'm getting old—as much as it pains me to admit it. I would like to see you settled down before I go and so would Meitsuki. Izayoi agrees as well. You may not be her blood son, but she does consider you her own pain in the ass."

Sesshoumaru rolled his eyes heavenward, "I refuse to have any discussions about my personal life with you."

"Well of course you do, my boy," he said with feigned sympathy as he pulled up into a quaint hotel parking lot. "How can't you when you have no personal life to speak of."

The corners of Sesshoumaru's brows twisted upward slightly, as his father smugly turned off the engine. "This is the part where you say, 'touché'."

His son rolled his eyes and said coolly, "Be lucky we have separate rooms, father."

Takeda gasped, "We're here, Inuyasha!"

Inuyasha looked outside the window, "What d'ya know; we are." He grinned, "We rooming together again Kuranosuke?"

His answer was a scoff, "Of course! We didn't bring all those DVDs for nothing! Sesshoumaru," he called as he unbuckled his seatbelt, "You want to join in on this? We're having a twelve hour movie night and the owner would gladly have an extra bed moved in if I ask."

What one instantly noticed about Takeda Kuranosuke—he was a tad on the spoiled side. He liked to flash money more than his enchanting smile. It was for that reason, he insisted on he and the Taisho's staying at the best rated hotels Britain had to offer each year they came. He always covered the costs of their room service and their rooms and wherever they stayed. He would even stay with them either as Inuyasha's roommate or in a room entirely to his own. The only time they had seen his house, which was a fantastically understating term, was the first year of the inspection's running. As this was the fourth year of their doing this, all members of the Taisho party had gotten used to hotel hopping though.

But what thing that never changed—Sesshoumaru roomed only with Rin.

Sesshoumaru merely raised a brow at the question and snorted, "I think we both know the answer to that, Kuranosuke."

Takeda hopped out of the minivan, "Great! I'll go talk to the owner now."

He was gone before anyone could utter a word.

Inuyasha snickered after a moment, "I don't know if you've realized, Sess, but Takeda took your answer as a yes…"

Inu Taisho patted his son on the back. "Have fun."

(Tsuki)

"Welcome to Chibi Pets! How may I help you?" Sounded the greeting and question that had been inquired for the umpteenth time in the span of an hour. Yet, in the bright red vest that sported the Chibi Pets' name, Kagome smilingly approached a young couple as they entered the store on a very productive Saturday afternoon.

'When had the store become this busy?' The girl silently questioned, as she brought the two over to the puppy section. Few of the animals that Kagome had remembered were even there anymore.

The faces of the employees, sans two new additions to the payroll, had been the same though.

Reika had been completely overjoyed to see the girl again, though her position was only temporary. Houjo had even convinced a few of the workers that she was close with to split the funds for purchasing a cake, for a small 'welcome back' party that was held in the back room.

During one of the days when Kaede had been absent, though… Apparently while Kagome had been away, one of the newbie employees had caused a major food related disaster in the backroom, and a food ban had been in place ever since.

Chibi Pets had changed in the time that she had been gone.

However, it was Chibi Pets that helped the time fly by for Kagome. She laughed a bit to herself, "Seventy-seven hours down, only a few hundred more to go."

As the raven haired girl tidied the sections a bit, she had to revel in the feeling of being alone.

In the last month and so, if she wasn't focused on Sango, then she was focused on Kouga, or Sesshoumaru and all that came with that.

But here?

Chibi Pets was the only place she had to herself really. Kouga did not exactly know about it, since she hadn't told him. Sango was only really a cat person. And Sesshoumaru? Stepping foot in the pet shop was probably not his top priority and the only other place Rin went besides straight home was the orphanage near the Taisho home now that she had Gome.

Besides those reasons, they weren't even in the country for that to ever happen now anyway.

So it was like she had found a sanctuary away from the people she dealt with the most in her life.

Houjo suddenly appeared behind her, "There you are, Kagome." He chatted with her for a few minutes before he said, "Kaede's closing up a little early tonight because it's vet night. So we're free to leave in a couple of minutes."

Kagome grimaced and cast a sympathetic look over her shoulder at the puppies, "Good news for us, bad news for them."

Houjo nodded with a slight frown, "Agreed." He dug into his pocket and pulled out a ring of keys, "Do you want the backroom or the register? Since we're the only two senior members on shift tonight, we might as well split closing up."

The raven haired girl gave him a mischievous grin and said coyly, "Well technically, I still count as a newbie, since I quit after all."

The sandy haired brunette chuckled, "Well, then I guess I'll just have to use my seniority to order you to help me clean up." He ruffled her hair, "Come on newbie. Since I'm feeling generous, I'll give you the easier job though. Take the cash register." He tossed her the keys.

Kagome laughed as she caught them, "How generous of you. When I'm done I'll see you in the back."

Houjo threw her a smile and turned to leave.

As he left, Kagome suddenly sighed.

A part of her didn't want to leave yet though.

Whenever she was home, it just reminded her of who she wasn't with….

(Tsuki)

The United Kingdom…

It was certainly a vast change from the streets of Tokyo. Different buildings, different language…different faces.

Inuyasha nudged Sesshoumaru, "So how are you holding up?"

They were seated on a bench in a random park, the name of which they had long forgotten since Takeda had told them about it.

Inu Taisho had been putting off the inspection for the past few days due to jetlagged induced naps, so Takeda had stepped into tour guide mode. Today he had taken them to a park, so Rin and Shippou could get some down time.

Sesshoumaru looked at Inuyasha and raised a brow, "Well?"

Inuyasha shook his head a bit, "Why do always act so surprised when I show concern about you? Just because we're half brothers, it doesn't mean that we have to be enemies." Truth be told, Inuyasha could count the amount of conversations that he and Sesshoumaru had had on his fingers and toes. Actually, including the toes was probably a bit unnecessary.

They never really spoke together, just the two of them. There always had to be a third party present to entice the two into joining the same conversation.

There was something awkward about being half brothers. Sesshoumaru was the son of the woman who had prematurely died. Inuyasha was the son of the woman who befriended the Taishos at that time and ended up being the new mother of the house.

Three short years after…

Sesshoumaru sighed. "It is not a…conscious response."

Inuyasha stressed his arms behind his head and rested his palms on the back of his skull, "Is that so," he laughed and said to his brother, "You know, when I was younger you were the reason I wet the bed. You scared the shit out of me even though we both were barely ye-high." He gestured at shoulder level before returning his hand to knit in with his other hand.

Sesshoumaru gave his half brother a look, "Should I be filled with delight?"

Inuyasha scoffed, "I'm just trying to make conversation, here!"

"Where exactly did you think that would lead?"

"I don't know!"

Sesshoumaru felt the corners of his mouth tug upwards. Inuyasha was suddenly attentive, "H'omygosh! Was that a smile just now?!"

He did a little victory dance in his seat and Sesshoumaru shook his head. He leaned back slightly. "How are things for you, Inuyasha?"

His silver haired brother stopped fooling around. In the same somewhat incredulous tone Sesshoumaru had used he replied, "Fine?"

The moment the word left his mouth he chuckled and let out a curse. His hands returned to the back of his head and he sheepishly avoided Sesshoumaru's smug gaze.

"Things are truly going well." Inuyasha was startled a bit, but after a moment he looked over at his brother and nodded for him to continue. "Rin is wholly content and so is Shippou. You saw the improved state of my home… 'Well' is honestly the only word I can describe everything with."

Inuyasha laughed, "Then I'm glad." He brought his arms down again, "You always seemed like the most meticulous person I'd ever known. I gotta admit though, it's been weird seeing your home life."

Sesshoumaru rolled his eyes, "Whoever said a house was a reflection of work ethic was pure bullshitting."

"You're case in point, huh?" Inuyasha smirked, "But that's true, to some extent."

The older of the two looked over, "Is that good or bad?"

Inuyasha shrugged, "I guess… bad. Kikyou and I are great. Our careers are going well. But our house is kind of depressing now. When we're home together, we feel almost guilty if we even smile. Sara's home treatment has been kind of rough." He groaned, "I even feel guilty for complaining about any of it!"

Sesshoumaru rubbed his brow, "I suppose I owe you an apology—"

"Feh, apologize? She's my friend too, Sess. Besides this was nothing you could help. We're closer to the doctors she needs and I'd be damned if she sacrificed her treatment, just so Kikyou and I could be 'happy.'" Inuyasha chuckled, "I think I'd prefer the apology for the bedwetting thing," he joked in an attempt to lighten the mood.

"I didn't piss your sheets for you, Inuyasha. Like you said—nothing I could help."

Takeda abruptly came up to the two with ice-cream wielding toddlers in hand. As Rin and Shippou relinquished him in favor of bombarding (with assistance from the soon to mentioned person) Sesshoumaru's lap, he grinned, "You two missed out on a lot of fun over there. What have you been talking about?"

Inuyasha smirked and stood, "How great it is to not have woodchips in our hair." He smacked Takeda on the back of his head, and tiny deluge of chunks of wood fell form the man's hair.

Takeda rolled his eyes, "I suppose I can thank Shippou for that. That was actually the reason I ended up buying him ice cream."

Said munchkin grin mischievously at the thirty year old before addressing Sesshoumaru, "Hey old man, you want some of my ice cream."

Sesshoumaru adjusted the boy on his thigh and subsequently declined the offer as politely as possible, "I would rather not touch anything you've put your mouth on. I don't know where you've been."

Shippou pouted, "But Kagome would…."

Rin sulked at the sound of the name and Sesshoumaru rolled his eyes, "The list of things Kagome would do that I myself would not, is staggering."

Inuyasha and Takeda became attentive at the sound of the raven haired girl's name, a habit newly formed after the airport situation.

Rin leaned against Sesshoumaru's chest, "I miss nee-chan, Sesshoumaru-papa."

Takeda pouted a bit, "You should have brought her along. I know this has become a boys…" Rin cutely cleared her throat and the man laughed, "and Rin only thing, but I'm sure an extra girl would have been welcome. And maybe Sango-chan would have come with her. This could have been a blast," he ended sadly.

Sesshoumaru raised a brow, "You have a 'blast' anywhere and with anyone. You will live."

Inuyasha plopped back down and put Shippou on his lap. "Look kiddo, if it makes you feel better, I'll share your ice cream with you."

Rin looked at Inuyasha, "Will you share my ice cream too, Uncle-Inu?"

Sesshoumaru lifted Rin and placed her between him and Inuyasha. He stood, "Father should be waking up right about now. I'm bringing the car around."

As soon as he left, Inuyasha chuckled, "Call it brotherly intuition, but I get the feeling that that softie misses Kagome too…"

(Tsuki)

When Kagome got in, the dorm was completely devoid of human life. Sango was undoubtedly either out at work or with Mirouku seeing as it was barely seven o'clock. Gome, however, was enough of the excited greeting that she had wanted. She barely had her backpack off before she was attacked.

Kagome scooped the rapidly growing pup in her arms and pet her. She grunted under the weight, "Hey, big girl! Did you miss me?" The exuberant yipping and licks she got were her answer.

The raven haired girl giggled. "I left you with enough food to feed an army, so let me just check my email and we'll go for a walk, okay girl?"

Gome growled a bit in response and Kagome raised a brow, "What? Do you want to go on a walk first?"

The golden pup let out a yip and Kagome laughed and placed the pup down, "Okay, boss. Let me grab your leash and we'll take off."

She crossed over to the coffee table in their living room and grabbed Gome's bright red leash from the surface. In seconds, she had the pup hooked to the leash and they were out the door.

Second only to working at Chibi Pets, the walks were her favorite parts of her new free found free time. It was nice bonding with Gome, even if it was something short lived.

Sometime it just was as if Gome understood her—as weird as that sounded. But it was a nice feeling, having someone to confide in that wasn't exactly able to really scold her or think less of her.

Now that she thought about it, she had been sugar coating some of the things she had been telling Sango lately, especially if it had to do with Sesshoumaru. She shuddered a bit and though she wrapped her jacket a little tighter around her shoulders, she knew it had nothing to do with the autumn wind.

She shook her head and looked down at Gome, "This is going to be a weird year, isn't it?"

Gome looked up at her and barked.

Kagome pushed her raven hair back, "By the way, Gome, you were so quick to run out the door, but now you're being picky." She wagged a finger at the pup, "Explain that, missy."

The dog let out a whine and Kagome playfully rolled her eyes, "All I'm saying, is you're being awfully picky with today's toilet."

Kagome quietly laughed as a passerby gave her a slightly amused glance over. As soon as they were out of hearing range she murmured, "It's a good thing, Sesshoumaru wasn't here. He'd never let me live down our conversations, Gome."

The golden pup gave a bark of agreement and abruptly veered towards a tree. Kagome scrunched up her nose. She readied her Purel, slipped on a glove, and pulled out a baggie, "No offense, but some times I think you'd be cuter constipated."

Gome's tongue peeked out of her mouth.

(Tsuki)

When Kagome got back in, Gome instantly slipped away from her and into the kitchen, "Don't forget that tonight's bath night," the girl called after the pup.

Trying to preoccupy herself, until Gome decided to stop gorging herself, she decided to go on the Onigumo website and book tickets in advance. The event was less than two weeks away, so she was bound to get a better deal that way, anyway.

And then afterwards, she would check her email.

It was while she was in the middle of filling out the preorder forms for the tickets, that Sango entered the apartment dorm giggling and bit and soaked. She called out to Kagome, "I don't know what's with this weather. Rain came out of nowhere and wouldn't you know it, I was umbrella-less."

The raven haired girl called out a greeting and added, "Dry off, quick, I have some news for you!" The latter was sung in a cheery sing song.

Sango's voice was slightly muted as she responded, "What a coincidence! I have news for you too!" Kagome heard the sound of a door opening as Sango moved about the apartment, "I was going to wait, but maybe now's the best time."

Kagome giggled, "Well hurry up! Don't leave me in suspense!"

She entered her Visa card number into the billing slots of the online form and after typing in the rest of the card into, she looked over the page.

"Eight tickets, address, card number…All set," she murmured to herself before clicking on the submit button towards the bottom of the screen.

Sango entered just as Kagome closed the window. Her damp hair had been thrown up into a messy bun and she had draped a soft blue colored robe over a white tank top and gray shorts. She grinned, "Wanna go first?"

Kagome made room on the couch, "No, no—you go ahead! I can wait."

Sango plopped down on the couch and asked, "What are you doing two weeks from Tuesday?"

Kagome laughed and gave Sango a look, "Duh, going with you and the boys to Onigumo—Are you trying to steal my surprise," she joked.

Sango suddenly blanched.

She resisted the urge to smack her forehead. 'How could I forget?' she closed her eyes, 'Stupid, stupid, stupid, Sango!'

Kagome gave her a look of concern but before she could say anything, Sango suddenly laughed.

"I guess I am," she said abruptly in response to the raven haired girl's teasing inquiry. She tried to make something up off the top of her head, "My surprise is," she started slowly, before spewing something out, "that I was thinking of inviting Rin and Shippou to Onigumo with us this year!"

Her roommate giggled, "Wow, Sango. I literally just ordered the tickets when you walked in."

Sango forced a laugh, "Did you?"

Kagome nodded enthusiastically, "I pre-ordered eight—if Mirouku's free, he's very welcome to tag along." She shut off her laptop and hugged it to her chest, "Exciting, right? I can't believe it's so soon."

The brunette nodded slowly, "Yeah. Very, exciting." She stood, "I need to make a call though, so I'll be right back." She kept a smile pasted on her face until she was no longer facing Kagome. She hurried to her room and all but slammed the door.

Sango sunk against it, "Shit!" She hit her head against the wooden panel of her door and let out another profanity. She sighed, "I'm so royally fucked."

She forgot that Souta and Kohaku were heading to Tokyo to join the girls, basically a week from now. Sango closed her eyes. She had even been the one to book the flights!

But something more important than that: she forgot about their Halloween plans.

She had told Kouga that they would be doing a double date that night. She rubbed her temples and stood. She sucked in a breath.

She needed to call Kouga.

Her hand reached for her cell phone until something clicked in her mind. "Kagome ordered eight tickets."

The girl mentally did a head count in her head, 'Rin and Shippou, the boys, Mirouku, me and Kagome.'

A smile worked its way to her face. "Seven." She said a silent prayer that Kagome was planning on asking Kouga herself. If so then everything was perfect for next week.

Just as she finished though, her cell phone decided to ring. She started and it took Sango a moment to realize that it was in fact her phone ringing. After the second ring, though, she picked it up. It was Kouga.

"Hey," Sango greeted him a tad nervously.

"Hey Sango, I've got some really bad news about next week."

The brunette clutched her phone tighter, "What is it?"

"Ryuu scheduled me to work with Jak and Bankotsu again for Monday and Tuesday.. I don't think I'll be able to make anything you have planned."

Sango groaned, "Oh no… You can't take off?"

"I used up all my sick days and the only person who could replace me is you." She heard him let out a frustrated sigh, "I was really looking forward to seeing her again, but next time, okay. I don't care if I have to play hookie or what."

Sango smiled a bit, "Yeah. See you tomorrow."

"See you."

She clicked the phone off and sighed. Now they were left with an extra ticket. She mirrored Kouga's earlier sigh.

But then something dawned on her. Maybe that ticket had never even been for Kouga in the first place.

The girl let out a groan as she suddenly knew who it had been actually meant for. The answer felt like a slap to the face.

She slid onto her bed and covered her face.

"Sesshoumaru."

(Tsuki)

A.N. I actually don't know how many chapters I'm shooting for with SB. I don't want to rush things, because that would just be dumb, but even I am getting restless. Sesshoumaru needs to hurry and come the hell home so things can progress between him and Kags, but I do so need Sara to see her son.

Oh dilemmas!