POISON | Love Her

Chapter 2

Cookie Dough

'Thoughts/Rin's writing'

Flashbacks

Original Publish Date: 3/25/2014

It was two in the afternoon and her father still hadn't returned from wherever he ran off to the night before. Rin couldn't help the small twinge of worry she felt but she pushed it aside, continuing to get dressed. She slipped on a pair of black active, fitted shorts, a racerback sports bra, and a simple pink tank top, before pulling down a lightweight hoodie over her torso.

She skipped over to the bathroom to examine her face. The ice and medicine helped greatly with the swelling, the makeup covered any discolorations pretty well. As long as no one got too close to her face, no one be wiser.

Rin grabbed her phone, flipping it open to send a quick text to Kagome. With how busy it all was last night, and her eagerness to leave, it had completely slipped her mind to tell her friend about her job offer! 'I'm heading to Shikon in a bit. They want me to try out. Wish me luck! :D' She typed before shutting the phone and slipping it into her hoodie's pocket. She grabbed her keys and purse, taking one last look at her room to ensure she didn't forget anything before she quickly made her way out of her house and into her car.

It took nearly an hour and a half to reach the entrance of Shikon with all the traffic and city construction along the way. She stepped out of her vehicle, her eyes plastered on the two-story building in front of her. The architecture was reminiscent of Japanese feudal era mansions, the word 'SHIKON' in a modern, bold font stood on top of the main door.

Rin never had the chance to enter the club before, the business accumulated a line quickly regardless of what day of the week it was, and she heard any events had to be reserved nearly a month in advance.

She approached the front double doors, where a rather large, intimating bouncer protected the doors. "What do you want? We aren't opened for another hour." She blinked up at him, before rummaging into her bag for her paper pad and a pen. She quickly jotted down the words, 'Kuromaru asked me to drop by to try out.' Before showing the paper to the bouncer.

"Huh, you must be that mute girl. Alright, go ahead." The man opened up the door for her. She did a quick bow as thanks before hurrying inside. Her eyes widened in awe, taking in the immense, lit stage with twin poles that reached up to the second floor, the large bar that stretched throughout the entire wall on her left, the pristine, onyx leather seats surrounding various tables scattered throughout the club.

"Yo. Are you Rin?" She jumped at the sound of a familiar voice, turning her attention to a female youkai approaching her. Her ruby-colored eyes flickered with recognition as she rested a hand on her hip. "… Have we met before?"

Rin jotted down the words, 'No, but I've seen you at The Whole Scoop! C:'

The youkai raised an eyebrow, "That's right… My name is Kagura, one of the four, well at the moment three, main 'attractions' here. Kuromaru will be with you in a second, he's busy with that perverse dragon—"

"Kagura, you speak so ill of me…" Rin swallowed hard at the sound of a voice she would never forget, one of the most dangerous mafia lords in the country, Ryukotsusei. The daiyoukai still looked the same as he did when she first got a glimpse of him eleven years ago…

"Rin, stay back." The young girl clutched her mother's pant leg, hiding behind her as a tall, well-dressed man advanced. His hair reached his waist, an exotic light, gray-purple hue, his eyes were transparent emerald with specks of blue, and his skin rivaled the color of porcelain. She would have found the man pretty, if it wasn't for the ugly smirk that tainted his face and the dangerous sparks from his aura.

"Emiko, it's been awhile." Rin felt her mother shaking through the clothing, and she wondered who the man was.

"Not long enough." She hissed, her hand pushing Rin's face further behind her.

"Oh, you have a daughter? How old is she?"

"That is none of your business, Ryukotsusei."

The daiyoukai growled, grabbing her mother's chin with his clawed hand. His eyes flashed red, "It is, Emiko, it is. All of your affairs are a great 'concern' to me until your family has returned what is rightfully mine."

Rin moved from behind her mother, bashing her tiny fists against the dragon's leg. "Let her go! Leave mommy alone!" The daiyoukai released her mother and those fierce eyes then landed on her, paralyzing her in place—

"Rin? My, my. How you have grown." The daiyoukai's voice cut through her memories, bringing her back to reality. His lecherous eyes blatantly took in her body, taking their time on her exposed legs. She didn't acknowledge his words or his stare. How he knew her mother she never found out, but she still trusted her judgment.

"You know her?" Kuromaru appeared next to the daiyoukai, a curious look on his face.

"Not personally, which is very unfortunate. Your mother never wanted to talk…" The dragon smirked, "Though if she is working here now, you will be seeing a lot more of me."

"Wonderful." Kagura remarked with a dry tone. "Weren't you leaving?"

"Kagura…" Kuromaru started, a hint of warning in his tone.

"No, she's right. I must get going. It was a pleasure to see you all again." Rin held her ground when the daiyoukai brushed past her. She was tense until she heard the click of the door shutting behind him.

"I'm guessing you don't like him?" Kagura asked, pointing out the pad of paper she crushed in her hand. 'When did I do that?' "Not many do. Unfortunately for us, he's a regular." Rin frowned, second-guessing her decision. If having to deal with the dragon frequently was part of the job—

"He knows where the line is drawn." Kuromaru said as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "If he causes too much trouble, you let me know personally." Rin blinked up at him, she felt the warmth of his hand through her thin clothing. She didn't understand his kindness, unless he was simply just trying to reel her in…? "Now, why don't you show us what you can do?"

-:-

"Wow." Kagura said after the song ended. She and Kuromaru were sitting on one of the many leather chairs surrounding the main stage. "Not many girls come in here confident enough to swing from one pole to the other, especially human girls." Rin walked up to the end of the stage, smiling at Kagura's praise.

"Do you approve?" Kuromaru asked Kagura, his brown eyes never left Rin's. It made her nervous, wanting something to cover herself. It wasn't the hint of lust that bothered her, she was desensitized to such things, it was the way his eyes pierced through her as if nothing could be hidden from his gaze. How was he able to look at someone so intensely so openly?

"I wouldn't mind. She won't be holding any of us back it seems."

"Well, then, Rin…" He stood from the seat, offering his hand. She accepted it, jumping down from the stage. "Welcome to Shikon." She smiled brightly, wrapping her arms around Kuromaru's neck without a thought. 'Yes, yes, yes!' It was a start to something better. She pulled away; missing the man's shocked expression.

"You won't be able to meet most of the other girls right now… but Sango should be in the back. Come on, I'll introduce you." Rin nodded, grabbing the tank top and hoodie she removed before following Kagura to the backroom. "Yo, Sango."

Rin's eyes immediately dropped to the woman's powerful thighs and sculpted abs before moving her gaze upward, taking notice of her large chest and toned arms. She was built like a warrior! "Hey Kagura." The woman crossed her arms, "Who's this?"

"This is Rin. She's Kikyo's replacement."

Sango smiled, offering her hand. "It's nice to meet you." Rin smiled back and shook the older woman's hand. "It's nice to finally have another human around here. I would love to chat, but I only got another 15 minutes to finish getting ready."

"Alright, alright, we'll leave you alone." Kagura gave her a short tour of the first floor of the club, mentioning the second floor was more for VIPs, or whoever was willing to pay the crazy cost to get a spot up there. She gave her a warning about the private rooms. "You can do whatever you want past those doors, just don't leave anything behind. Leaving those rooms a mess is grounds for dismissal." She nodded her understanding; she wasn't planning to ever use those rooms anyway.

The club's doors had already opened, and people already began to make their way inside despite no dancers being out yet. "We open the doors a little early so everyone can get comfortable, this place can get very hectic on the weekends." Kagura's phone chimed and she gave the device a quick look.

"Hey, you got any plans right now?" Rin shook her head. "Want to head to The Whole Scoop? I'll be meeting a friend there." She didn't even think about it, accepting her offer and hoping the friend was the mystery cookie dough man.

-:-

The two women left their respective cars after parking in the ice cream parlor's small parking lot. Rin stood beside Kagura who was leaning against the trunk of her sporty red convertible. "He should be here any second—there he is." A silver Aston Martin pulled into the lot, parking in the back where no other cars would be near it. 'That's a really nice car.' Rin thought, watching the mysterious cookie dough man exiting his vehicle with a ridiculous amount of grace. He wore an expensive suit like always, though this time it was a navy color.

"Who's this?" The question almost sounded if as he was disgusted by her presence and Rin resisted the urge to glare at the man. 'How rude!'

"Rin, the newbie at Shikon." Kagura responded, "Let's go inside, I'm dying to try their new flavor." The three walked into the parlor, a new face greeting them behind the counter.

"Hi there! Welcome to The Whole Scoop!" Rin didn't recognize this employee, 'He must be new.' "What can I get for you?" He asked, starting with her. She blinked at him and back down at the ice cream. She had thrown out her crushed paper pad and now couldn't write her order down. She pointed at the vanilla ice cream, though with how the creams were laid out… "Are you pointing at the cake batter or vanilla?"

"She's pointing at the vanilla." Asagi appeared from the back room, standing next to the new employee. "Shippo, this is Rin. Rin, Shippo. Take care of the other two, I got her." The boy nodded and directed his attention to the man and Kagura.

"I know you want vanilla BUT…" The bluenette leaned over the counter, a hand covering one side of her face. "We got some good stuff in today." She made her way over the end of the ice cream rows where new flavors were placed. Rin wondered why her friend was behaving suspiciously, 'Asagi is so silly.' "Vanilla ice cream with cookie dough swirls. Pure cookie dough swirls, Rin. No one can beat this stuff." Rin perked up at the sound of cookie dough. Can she possibly be able to put MORE cookie dough in her ice cream than ever before? Asagi looked at the man, realizing she caught his attention as well. "I know you're interested too~" The bluenette giggled, "You both want to try it with your regular combinations?"

The two nodded simultaneously and without hesitation then gave each strange looks. Well, she gave him a strange look; he looked at her as if she was unworthy of having such cookie dough awesomeness.

The three sat in a random booth, Rin and Kagura sat on one side with the man across from them. "Both eating the same thing..." The demoness began, "You two know there are other things you can have with your ice cream, right?" Rin smiled at Kagura while the man gave her an annoyed look. The woman sighed, resting her head on hand. "A mute and a man who might as well be mute. Looks like I'll be doing all the talking again."

"You are mute?" Rin nodded at the man's question. "Can you sign?" She tensed up at his question. She wanted to learn sign language since she lost her voice, but her father wouldn't allow her to enroll in any classes at her high school. It was something she was ashamed of, to her, it made her appear lazy… especially to those who thought she was mute since birth. Rin solemnly shook her head, and the man gave the exact look she expected and it only made her feel worse.

"I prefer the pen and paper any way." Kagura said, as if sensing her dark thoughts. Rin stood, heading to the counter and grabbing the pad of paper that was usually waiting just for her. She returned to her spot next to Kagura and pulled the pen out of her purse, jotting down the words. 'I almost forgot! Thanks!'

The three sat in silence for a few minutes, enjoying their desserts. "How do you and Ryukotsusei know each other?" Rin glanced at Kagura, putting down her spoon before she wrote down, 'We don't. My mother knew him somehow.' "Hmm, that's strange." She gave the demoness a puzzled look, but it was the man who responded.

"Ryukotsusei does not make a habit of associating himself with humans, especially those that have nothing to offer." There was something about the way he said it that made her feel there was an insult somewhere in there… in that 'nothing to offer' part...

"The only thing he seemed interested in was sex." Kagura said before taking a bite of ice cream. "I don't think he thinks of anything else." Rin scrunched up her nose, the dragon was still as good-looking as he was years ago… but the thought of doing anything with him almost made her gag and throw out her ice cream…

Almost. No way was she throwing her dessert out!

The demoness' phone went off; she exchanged a few hushed words with whoever called her before putting the device away. "Well, I'd hate to leave so soon but I have to go take care of someone—something." Rin stood to allow Kagura slide out of the booth. "See ya two later."

And now it was just them. Rin shifted to the center of her seat, directly across from the older man in front of her. The two were only about half-way done with their ice creams. 'What do we even talk about?' She thought, unable to think of a way to break the silence, not that she could… technically. 'Oh, that's right!'

She grabbed the paper and quickly scribbled, 'I never got your name.'

The man looked her over once, before returning to his dessert. "Takahashi will suffice." It didn't shock her that he didn't give his first name.

'What do you for work?' She jotted down.

"I own a multinational private equity firm." 'Fancy.' She thought, unsurprised by his answer. How else would afford his expensive suits and nice car?

'Do you like it?' She wrote. She was honestly curious. The man seemed so uptight… Takahashi stared at the note for a moment.

"It is… sufficient." She nearly rolled her eyes at the evasive answer. "Do you enjoy stripping for lowly, perverted strangers?"

She flinched at his aggressive and disgusted tone, not knowing what she did to cause it. Did her profession offend him so much? It didn't seem like he treated Kagura with such malice… 'No.' She wrote, as if his tone didn't affect her. 'Long hours, grabby clients. I'm hoping Shikon would be better, but with Ryukotsusei…'

"Then why do you continue to do it?" That always seemed to the question everyone would ask her or the other dancers. Your job is degrading, you're unhappy, just change it! As if it was so easy to get out of it. The money she would make at a 'normal' job would never pay enough of her father's climbing rent and it was impossible to put money aside for school…

She began to write, 'It's not that easy.' She was going to put more but stopped herself. Would he really understand?

She prayed to whichever holy deity caused the man's phone to ring. She saw his jaw tightened as a squeaky voice on the other end rambled on about accounts or something. 'A work-related call…?' His eyes hardened as the voice continued—she swore she heard a crack of plastic from the phone—and she began to think he was going to pop a vein in his head...

"I will be there in 10 minutes." Takahashi slipped the phone back in his blazer. He said nothing in parting but Rin smiled up at him anyway, waving her goodbye as he left the parlor. Her eyes landed on the cup he left on the table, and she peeked inside. 'Oh my god, there's still ice cream in there!'

-:-

Takahashi stepped into his silver Aston Martin DBS Volante. He turned the key in the ignition, the car's V12 engine roaring to life, and quickly made his way out to the highway. He had just dealt with one of his many businesses that were so bold to believe that they longer needed his assistance or protection. He quickly reminded the owners just how little they actually owned of their company, and with a bit of rough persuasion, just how much they needed his security.

His mind wandered off to the petite girl that Kagura brought in, or more of what Ryukotsusei would want with her. The demoness had already informed him of the dragon's interest before he had arrived to the parlor; he had just wanted to get a look at her. She was a human who barely reached his shoulders in height, appeared to be very young with wild raven hair and expressive brown eyes, and was mute of all things.

'What could Ryukotsusei possibly want with her?' Kagura mentioned she was to begin working at Shikon, which made things a bit difficult. Surely the spider hanyou was already plotting ways to use the girl for his personal gain beyond the strip club. Though the wind demoness said he knew nothing more about her connection with the dragon… yet.

He would have to find out first, perhaps the information he finds would be useful against the daiyoukai… It was simply too bazaar to ignore. Ryukotsusei's hatred for humans far surpassed his own; the dragon went as far as promoting genocide of humans around what was left of the youkai race. Only a select few shared Ryukotsusei's extreme vision.

In fact, Naraku was the only being with human blood that had prolonged contact with the dragon and lived to tell about it in the past century—that was surely only because the dragon has eyeing the crime lord's territory for some time now and Ryukotsusei enjoyed… playing with his food, so to speak.

Abruptly, the memory of the young woman smiling flashed in his mind. He briefly wondered how such a quiet, naïve woman turned to stripping, and if the bruise she tried to cover on her face had anything to do with it. His now-golden eyes narrowed, 'That is none of my concern.'

Whatever human trouble the woman had was of no interest to him, only her relation to Ryukotsusei.

-:-

Rin was surprised to find an empty house when she got home, but more so was relieved. Hopefully her father didn't notice her absence. She placed the bit of groceries she purchased to make dinner for her father. He didn't ask for it, but she rather avoid any… complications. She began chopping up the vegetables and her mind roamed off to recap her day.

Shikon was a massive club. The glimpse of the crowd that came in before confirmed the type of money she would be making, 'Even without Kuromaru's second contribution…' She glanced at her purse at the end of the counter, a few hundreds tucked inside as a 'signing bonus' he called it. She tried to give it back—she only did two dances and that certainly didn't count—but he insisted. 'He's a strange man.' She concluded, 'Just throwing money around like that…' She hoped it wasn't because he wanted something else, but she knew how the world worked.

Rin sautéed the onions, mushrooms, bell pepper, carrots and broccoli in coconut oil on a large wok. She checked her phone, and responded to Kagome's good luck text from earlier, letting her know she would be joining the club. Now only to tell Kaguya she will no longer be working at Blue Moon...

She didn't hear the front door open through the sound of sizzling food and her buzzing thoughts. She nearly jumped when her father walked into the kitchen, placing a hand over her chest. The woman got over her shock, waving at the older man before she continued cooking. Her father said nothing and leaned against the doorway that divided the kitchen and dining room.

"Where'd you go?" Rin paused mid-stir, her heart beginning to pound in her chest. 'Should I just tell the truth? … Of course, what else can I say?'

She jotted down the words, 'I was at another club, trying out.' Her pen stopped after the period, and she wondered if this was the best way to—he snatched the paper away before she could do anything else.

"That's interesting… because I could have sworn I ordered you to stay here." He said harshly, slamming down the paper where she had it. Rin rapidly removed the veggies from the wok, and threw in the strips of marinated chicken.

'I know but it was my only chance to try out… I thought more money would be good?' Rin hoped he would take the distraction of more cash…

"You trying to leave?" She bit back the whimper when he grabbed her arm. His auburn eyes were wild, paranoid. Rin shook her head, thinking 'It's going to happen again…' He wasn't going to believe her for the umpteenth time, regardless that she had been by his side for years. "Really? Because… you didn't mention any of this last night… and that makes me think that… you…" His grip tightened, "… are planning somethin'."

Rin shook her head, pleading eyes staring up at her father. 'Let me go.' She thought, but she didn't struggle, not wanting to get a rise out of him. Even though he would do it on his own with whatever thoughts haunted him… She glanced at the burning wok, 'It would be one quick hit…' And that thought disturbed her. She never considered hurting him back, but she was nearing a breaking point…

The sharp sting of his backhand told her that he probably caught her glance and knew what she thought. In a sick way, she actually thought she deserved that one. "You ain't getting away. Nah..." The grip on her arm disappeared, to return around her neck. Her eyes widened, and her hands gripped the thick wrists, trying to pull the strong hands away from her throat. Her back was slammed against the refrigerator, then the concrete wall beside it, her head taking the brunt of the blows. "You're never getting away from me…"

Black spots assaulted her vision as she struggled to breathe; she tried kicking him, she tried digging her nails into his arm and wrist, she tried to reach his face to do something—anything to get him to stop, but he kept strangling her with unbridled force. Her sense of hearing began back to fade. "You ain't leaving… Never… I wo… et… yo… o… …R…"

Her eyes rolled to the back of head, and then… there was nothing, just the cold comfort of darkness.

End of Chapter 2

Author's Note: Wow, this story got a lot more attention than I was expecting for the first chapter… lol, I'm glad you guys like it and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Thanks to Mirja, dreamer623, anonymous, I love Siberian tigers (omg, so do I), jj, Carmen, L.M.T.O.P, and icegirljenni for reviewing!