Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha.
The door to the shop swung open, striking the quaint brass bell contraption that announced visitors. Kagome looked up from the shelf she was dusting with a welcoming smile on her face.
As the customer had expected, her cheeriness faltered at the sight of him.
As he had not expected, however, it returned with a vengeance a moment later.
"You're…happy to see me," he remarked, stepping in and eyeing the pottery lying in a jumbled heap on the floor.
"Happiness is not a crime, though you may have wanted it to be."
He shot her a grievously wounded look of remonstration. "Now, now. I never wanted to outlaw joy. I merely placed my own over everyone else's."
She snorted. "That just a majorly incorrect euphemism for 'I was happy only when I was fucking up other people's lives.'"
"Well…"
"And 'Igot better at it with each new try.'"
Naraku grimaced, knowing he wasn't going to win this one. "So," he changed the subject, "so-"
"So 'I was a bastard of epic proportions.'"
"So," he countered firmly, "I'm here to bother you some more because it's a slow day at work and irritating you is oodles more fun than bargaining with some flat, broad, pompous connoisseur who thinks Ming vases are all the rage for wedding décor right now."
Kagome blinked. "That's an expensive wedding?"
"Very," he replied sourly. "I suppose it could be worse. They could expect me to do the flowers too, since I'm already supplying the pots."
"Pots?"
"Ming. Pots."
Wisely judging that this wasn't a conversation she wanted to get into – not least because it threatened to send her into a full-blown rant about her grandfather, who was once again refusing to give her access to the shrine's finer treasures – Kagome nevertheless found herself making an unusual offer. "Might I propose an alternative?"
Naraku raised an eyebrow. "I sense deviousness brewing."
"Do they have to have the real thing, or will regular antiques of decent quality do?"
"'Old need not be gold,'" he quoted, looking spectacularly disgusted. Kagome had to stifle a laugh; who would have guessed at Naraku going into moral outrage at the idea of anyone under-appreciating artefacts? Not me, the ex-priestess thought, but if I can make some money out of this, he can be as outraged as he likes.
And really, who would have guessed that a day would come when an upright young woman who had once been hailed for her purity would be conspiring to thoroughly exploit a monster's scruples?
Truly, the formerly upright young woman thought, the world has gone to ruin.
"Well, if they're not too fussy, I have just the thing for them."
Naraku swung round to glare at the offending pile of pots and vases that he had nearly tripped over on the way in. "No."
"Oh, come on!" Kagome urged. "They've been lying around uselessly – and they're a full set, so I can't sell them piece by piece unless I want to do it at a loss."
"I'm not going to be your salesman, young lady."
Momentarily shaken at being addressed as such by a man who could scarcely be older than her, Kagome tried regrouping. "They're good items. Just a little dusty. Here-" She picked one up and gave it a swift whisk with a soft brush, exposing a delicate pattern of apple blossoms glazed on the pale ceramic. "See!"
Entreat.
"Hmmm…"
"They're unsigned, which is why I can't charge as much for them as the craftsmanship is worth, but they're perfect for a wedding."
Entice.
"Hmmm…"
"And I'm really, really, really good at ikebana!"
Entrap.
"Hmmmmmmmm…"
Exploitation, I love thee!
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