A.N. OMG! 920 reviews! Thank you tons!! Special thanks to the 900th reviewer. Not quite sure who you are right now… Kinda can't count backwards (I am no lie having serious issues) lol. Howeve,r if you guys knew how supped I was, you'd probably be a little scared. It's been my ultimate dream since I was 13 to get a thousand reviews. Hopefully by the 25th I'll have that. Why the 25th? Well guys, that's when I'll be saying farewell to SB. I posted my baby four years long, long ago on that day and I really want to celebrate it's bday by finishing the story lol. I have the ending written, but I just have to get there lol.
Dedication: To Amethyst Evangeline and my grandfather (in loving memory of the fourth anniversary of his death if I can't dish up Chapter 31 by the 7th) Thank you Amethyst Evangeline for writing a review that really touched me and thank you grandpa for thirteen years of just being there. I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Inuyasha and never claimed ownership at any point during this story.
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(Tsuki)
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Simply Business
Chapter Twenty Nine
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(Tsuki)
"You know what…I don't even know why I'm even friends with you!" Sango shook her head with a complete show of disgust, "You are just so damn inconsiderate! I never valued my friendship with Kouga more than ours but I value him as a person, damn it! I won't sit back while you treat him like pure shit! All you did was complain and whine about Sesshoumaru—yet this weekend? What was that? How fickle can you get?" She threw her hands up in frustration.
Kagome asked in a shocked voice. The brunette had just burst through their apartment door and immediately begun the tirade without even a greeting. "What are you talking about Sango?" She clicked off the television that she had been watching "Did something happen at the airport? Are you okay?"
"How could I be okay? I saw you two kissing," Sango spat incredulously. "You and Sesshoumaru of all people!" She closed her eyes angrily, "I probably hate that the most about you! You act so clueless just so you live vicariously with no regard for anything! I can't stand it!" Sango threw off her coat, unmindful of the fact that it landed unceremoniously on the floor. "Take responsibility for once! Act your fucking age!"
Kagome laughed sadly, "I act clueless and I'm secretly hooking up with Sesshoumaru behind Kouga's back, huh?"
Sango rolled her eyes and crossed across the room so that she was facing the girl, "Please—don't take that tone! Don't try and make it sound like you didn't! I saw you!"
"I'm glad we're taking a moment to get this and everything else out in the open. I guess now it's my turn to say what I can't stand about you, right? Unless you have more accusations of course," Kagome ended coolly.
Sango yelled, "Nope I'm all done so yeah! Sure why not! I'd really love to know what you have to say! Dish, Kagome!"
Kagome slowly unfolded herself from the couch. "I hate that you don't trust me, Sango… I love you like a sister. Yet what do you think of me? Have I just been a child you've been forced to babysit? If so, I apologize. But I won't apologize for something I haven't even done!" She shook her head, "I never kissed, Sesshoumaru, Sango. I don't know what you're referring to or what you saw, but I know what I've done." She turned and headed towards the door, "The fact that you'd even throw that accusation out there shows just how awful our friendship actually was." As she crossed the doorway she muttered, "I'm heading out."
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(Tsuki)
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Kagome somehow knew that she would end up at that 516 Hanamidoki Boulevard. From the moment she had angrily slid into the driver's seat of her car, she knew it. From the moment she finally stopped feeling anger and started feeling complete and utter dejection, she knew it.
She knew that for some reason, it felt like the only reasonable place to be.
All thoughts had seemingly left her head, but once she started driving he was all that she could think of.
Sesshoumaru Taisho.
Why was that?
Why was he the first thought to come to her mind? Had this happened a mere month earlier, she would not have hesitated to bare the nearly two hour long drive home.
Why was it now though that she thought about him first about when she needed someone.
Why??
His first words to her were, "I do not have time for this, woman," and of course she hadn't quite met him on the best of terms. Hell, she spent the first half hour of their meeting wondering if he was some sort of arrogant, anger-issue-having, dog-hating psycho. 'And don't even get me started on how I felt the day after…' she thought to herself, rubbing her forehand.
'And the first day on the job he made me cry…' But he had made it up to her in a pretty nice way. Plus his encounter with Jakotsu had been an utter highlight.
When she was in front of the familiar house that she had seen innumerous times before, she felt an unmistakable calm. But at the same time, for the first time since she had started working for Sesshoumaru, she was suddenly nervouse all of a sudden.
She was hesitant to enter.
All she could think about was the time she had spent in that home… with that family. With Sesshoumaru…
Everything replayed in her mind.
From learning that he was secretly a huge domestic slob to seeing him care for Rin and even Shippou…
From hiding from him under his kitchen table to cooking with him in that same room.
Helping him pack…
Talking about her father…
The raven haired girl sat in her car for an indiscernible length of time before she worked up the courage to leave the vehicle.
She exited her car and shakily stepped out of the door.
As she got closer, as her heart beat faster…
It became clearer even though she didn't want it to.
It was the same reason why she felt nothing when she kissed Kouga, the reason why she had gotten a little joy out of driving in the middle of the night to calm Shippou. The reason why she had desperately asked him to stay with her that Tuesday night and why she looked forward to every since evening.
It was the same reason that made her hate being reminded that he was paying her to be there.
Her key slid into the lock and she pushed the door open.
Her eyes widened and her mouth hung open as she pushed the door open. She was suddenly struck with clarity.
With an incredulous bout of realization she exclaimed, "Shut the fuck up…."
Sesshoumaru looked up from the foyer mirror. He had been futilely tying a red tie around his neck.
He looked at her, pure surprise written on his face. The silver haired man finally settled on, "Excuse me?"
Kagome looked frightened, "Oh my God," she groaned, "No…"
She moved to the living room and Sesshoumaru, after a long moment of blatant confusion, moved after her.
Before she could sit down, he firmly grasped her shoulder.
"What exactly is wrong with you?"
'I'm in love with him…' Her mind whirled from the mystifying answer. Yet it was so disgustingly obvious. And so disgustingly wrong.
Kagome paled and wearily pleaded, "Please don't ask that question… Please."
Sesshoumaru frowned and coolly questioned, "Should I ignore then that you barged into my home—"
"Yes…" she replied softly and her eyes pleaded with him to do that.
The man was hesitant to cease his hold on her. Kagome sucked in a breath and quickly tried to compose herself. She pasted on a smile, "So… What are you getting all dressed up for?" she asked with weak enthusiasm.
Sesshoumaru raised a brow and was silent for a moment. He decided to humor her though until she was ready to talk. "I don't even know, to be honest." he muttered with irritation after a while. He scowled, "I was finally coerced into going out on a 'date.'"
Kagome finally sunk down to the couch, unable to stand. She immediately assumed that that meant he had accepted Kagura's proposal. Sesshoumaru, who had relinquished her prior to the action mused, "You seem shocked?"
Kagome almost felt as nauseous as she did during Onigumo. Her heart sharply clenched and but she shook her head though, and feigned enthuse, "No, no, no—I'm happy! I'm ecstatic! That's so great—she's so pretty… Should I stay here and babysit? Wait! I can help you…like get ready…"
Had Kagome been in a proper state of mind, she would have noticed the smirk that tickled at the corner of his lips.
The words kept spewing from her mouth in a relentless tirade until Sesshoumaru spoke.
With a scoff as he resumed fiddling with his tie, "Though I was about to call you to watch Shippou, I do believe I shall be fine dressing minus your help."
Kagome rubbed the bridge of her nose and slowly rocked back and forth, "That's cool too."
In her mind, her thoughts were raging.
That kind of guy… how could he ever see her as anything but an employee? He had suitors lining up for him from everywhere from farms to the business he owned. Her odds weren't looking that good.
Sesshoumaru gave up on his tie to sit down on the couch with her. He also gave up on waiting for her to broach the problem that had caused her to burst into his house profanities blasting. The silver haired man, cut to the chase. "Why is it that there's always something wrong with you Higurashi? What is it now? I am actually beginning to feel concerned."
Kagome squeezed her eyes shut and the rubbing became a frustrated and furious gesture, "Sango called me an insensitive, childish, whore or something to that effect." But that wasn't even really the problem anymore.
Her nausea doubled.
She was in love with an untouchable man.
He raised a brow at her almost blasé tone, "I see…?" He thought back to his conversation with Sara and a part of him had to think, 'I suppose there are two women in this world that can reduce me to speechlessness.'
After a moment, the man took her hand off her nose, "At that rate you'll break something. Tell me what happened."
Kagome's eyes opened at the contact and she listlessly put her hand down onto her lap, away from him. She laughed a bit, but Sesshoumaru knew she found no humor in the situation, "She was holding onto completely chewing me out until our brothers left this morning. Pretty considerate, though…" She abruptly closed her eyes again and tried to keep her tears at bay. "Do you mind if I take Shippou and Rin to a park or something? I don't really want to talk about this. I just need some fresh air…"
Sesshoumaru forced her to look at him, "Or a distraction?"
Kagome wordlessly nodded.
The silver man sighed, "I suppose I can allow you to help me prepare."
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"Mr. Taisho! I thought you agreed to let me prepare you for this date of yours." Kagome pouted as she gave her employer her puppy eyes impression as she seated him down at the kitchen table.
Sesshoumaru scowled, "Do note, that when I offered for you to help me, I assumed you would simply fix my tie. This? I will not have it." His eyes narrowed, "I refuse to wear make-up. Do I look like a transvestite?"
Sure on some level, he was glad that she was no longer eerily depressed but surely this was taking things a bit overboard.
She rolled her eyes, "First off, it's Guy-liner. G-U-Y-l-i-n-e-r." She stressed each letter of the word, causing Sesshoumaru to rub his temples. "And secondly," she continued, "Do you really want what me answering that question? 'Cause you know, I really don't like to lie, but I'd hate to get fired so—"
"I will not wear eyeliner. I refuse." He reiterated.
"Guy-liner! It even says it on it. See! Right here, Mr. Taisho." She showed him the pen. His brow twitched slightly and Sesshoumaru was very tempted to point out the fact that she had merely written that obnoxiously ridiculous word herself onto a strip of masking tape she had taken from his kitchen drawer to wrap it around a regular eye-lining pencil.
He probably would have pointed it out, too had Kagome given him the chance to speak. "I don't see why you don't get the whole guy-liner concept. I spelt it out and even showed you the name. Besides, it's so popular! Ladies kill for a guy who'll wear this stuff!"
A smirk made its way to his face, "You included?"
'Hell no! I actually find the whole concept emasculating.' Is what her face was currently saying. But verbally, she answered in a tight voice as she pasted on a smile, "It was in a magazine…"
"How does that answer my question?"
"I think it was an article on Fallout Boy."
"And who is that, pray tell?"
Kagome waved a hand excitedly at the prospect of seemingly finding her chance to gush about her musical tastes.
"They're a States band I learned about from an American at MNU. They're quite popular I hear. Oh! And they have these songs with really, really long titles that are—"
"And you expect me to wear eyeliner because of that?"
"Guy-liner, Mr. Taisho."
"First you set me up with a woman who not only works in a store devote to costumes, regardless of the time of year, but on a farm as well, and now you wish to strip me of my masculinity?"
Kagome suddenly started rocking her head and she belted into her guyliner pencil:
"We're only liars, but we're the best
We're only good for the latest trends…
We're only good, 'cause you could have all those famous friends,
Besides we've got such good fashion sense—"
"If that isn't proof enough that you should let me fix up your look, then I don't know what is!" Abruptly she hit him with her makeshift microphone slash guy-liner. "So stop being a stiff! You hired a girl who worked with animals—how different is this?"
"The difference is that I was not set up to date you."
Kagome rolled her eyes, trying to ignore the fact that she , "Tomato, tomato Mr. Taisho. Besides, I didn't even set you two up! You're going out with her, buddy, is all on you."
He sniffed in a way that begged to differ and murmured, "Besides, I don't want to replicate a band that sounds that horrid."
Kagome looked indignant. She crossed her arms. "I would have let it pass if you had said bad or horrible---but horrid?? How mean! I was in chorus for all of high school!"
"And I'm sure they regretted each year," he drawled.
"Damn it Mr. Taisho—you'll wear this and like it! You'll be the new Pete Wentz!"
Eyes narrowed in confusion and before his lips could uttered the question, "Who?" Kagome had wrapped her arms around his head in perfect head lock fashion and was trying her damnedest to put eyeliner on him.
Sesshoumaru scowled and all but growled out, "Touch me with that and your pay will be docked five dollars per hour this week."
Kagome rolled her eyes. "Oh please! Mr. Taisho—this is the stuff that MasterCard commercials are made of. Eyeliner: $2.50 ….Masking tape: $3.50… Docked pay: minus $5.00 per hour… .Putting guy-line on your boss: Priceless!"
Just as she was about to touch his porcelain skin, both heard Rin call, "Papa! Rin is almost ready!"
Kagome furrowed her brows and released him with confusion, "Is Rin going out as well?"
Sesshoumaru smirked at her and stood, "She, Kagome, is my date."
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(Tsuki)
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Mirouku knocked on the door to Sango's apartment. He knocked several times but received no answer.
He scratched the back of his head wondering whether he should have called first. He had been a bit arrogant assuming that she would be home on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon.
After another knock, he tested the knob and was surprised to find it unlocked. He frowned as he walked in and muttered, "I know it's a school owned building, but you should really lock your doors…"
He looked around and saw no one there. "Especially if you're not home."
Mirouku chuckled, slightly embarrassed, 'There goes surprising Sango with my early flight…'
He looked as his watch as he moved to plop down on the couch. When he did, he let out a surprised yelp. As did the brunette he landed on.
Sango groaned and drew her legs to her chest, "Ouch!"
Mirouku jumped up quickly and ran a quick hand through his hair, "Sorry! I didn't think you were home. I knocked quite a few times…"
Sango looked at the man, "What are you doing here, Mirouku? I thought you were in France…"
He noted that her voice was a bit hoarse and she looked somewhat tired. And the raven haired man felt a bit worried that he had woken her. But Mirouku put that behind him with a bit of a laugh as he saw that her iPod was laying mere inches away. He plopped back down as she took out her headphones, "I was trying to surprise you." He shrugged and pulled out a small box of French chocolates, "Surprise."
Sango took the box with a sad smile and leaned against him, "Thanks. But to be honest, I don't deserve these."
The violet eyed man looked at her and asked, "And why is that?" Suddenly the hoarse voice and fatigue worried him in a different way. "What's wrong?"
"I was a complete asshole to Kagome." She laughed wryly, "That's probably even an understatement."
"What did you do?"
"Let's just say that if she doesn't come back tonight, I wouldn't be surprised." Sango sadly looked at the thin box in her hand. She toyed with the rich blue ribbon that was tied around the golden hued packaging. "I said some pretty horrible stuff and accused her of some stupid things."
Mirouku sighed, "Was it Kouga related? You've been pretty upset about their situation lately."
"That's because it's so frustrating! Kagome's always with the Taishos and Kouga has just about disappeared off the face of this planet! But I feel obligated now to getting them to be together… I don't want either unhappy because of me since I did the introducing in the first place…"
The raven haired man, scratched the back of his head, "Did you ever think that maybe there's no real romantic chemistry between them? On surface they look great together but when you really talk to them," he shook his head slowly, "it's like they're better off as friends. Right now they're basically running on pure physical attraction—not really like, definitely not love."
Sango opened her mouth to disagree, but she couldn't find the words to.
"Kouga may think he feels something for Kagome, but I've know him well enough to know that when he's truly smitten, he drops any and everything. Sure, he could come to love her, since they do have a lot in common. But he doesn't now because they're going to different places and want different things. On a deeper level they're acting off of obligation just like you are but unfortunately none of them can see that."
The man moved so that he was facing her, "Kagome's your closest friend, yes, but even if you have the best intentions in mind, your intervening could hurt her more than help."
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"So… you're not meeting Kagura?"
The silver haired man looked amused, "Like I said, I never set myself up with that woman—you did."
Kagome felt her cheeks flush as Sesshoumaru explained, "It's the anniversary of my receiving custody. Rin always picks how we celebrate and she wanted to go on a 'date.'"
The girl looked confused, "So why were you about to call me?"
"Shippou backed out since he did not want to dress up." He smirked, "Apparently you do not remember that I said I need you to watch, Shippou."
The raven haired girl laughed a bit, "I was kind of out of it… Sorry."
Sesshoumaru turned to leave, but before he did, he turned around and said in a low voice, "You never fully told me what happened with your roommate, Kagome. If you wish to talk about it, I will listen."
Kagome felt tears prick at her eyes and she smiled, "Thank you Mr. Taisho, but you have a date to go on."
"This is an offer that will not expire, Higurashi."
Kagome nodded as he left.
She had stepped into an unrequited love a long time ago. Now that she had realized it and truly looked around her, she was in so deeply that there was seemingly no way of coming back.
But damn it, she was going to have to try.
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(Tsuki)
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A.N. Cute twist huh? The whole Sesshoumaru not dating Kagura thing, not the spirit crushing Sango thing (Honestly I've had this chapter mapped out for months! I couldn't wait to break out their fight)… or Kagome's being bummed out thing. I have to admit though, it's so weird to dish out something this short, but I feel like this was enough without writing 6000 plus more words. We all knew Kagome was in love and for her to realize it herself is the major and necessary step. No romance yet but I have some most definitely planned for the next chappie or two.