Fanning The Flames
Inquisitor
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Welcome back! To the story! Yeah! I’m a dork.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Inuyasha.
Warnings: Prostitution, sex, bad language, bad stuff like
that.
Fanning The Flames
Chapter Three
I woke up a
couple of hours before my shift started and decided to go out and have a
cigarette. Kanna was still sleeping and I didn’t want to disturb her because
the poor girl never seemed to get enough sleep as it was.
It had been
a month since she had moved in, and my life was somewhat changed because of her
presence. I always held her hand when we went anywhere, or even while we were
just sitting in our room. The poor girl, so slight and frail, would shudder any
time we had to pass by Goshinki. I would usually give him a dirty look or flip
him off or something like that just to make him stop leering at her. Of course,
he would then leer at me, but I was used to it.
Naraku had
checked up on us one time, and had caught Kanna holding my hand. He said it was
cute and made some horribly disgusting comment involving the three of us which
made me want to take a week-long shower. That man was beyond revolt
My feet
hurt a little as I strapped on my black six-inch stilettos. I walked out of the
place and continued down the sidewalk, walking as I pulled out a cigarette.
Kanna would often come with me on such excursions. She didn’t smoke or even
offer much conversation, she would just stand there as I smoked and did all the
talking for both of us. She barely ever spoke at all, and never talked to
anyone but me. I guess it made me feel special, like I was the only one that
Kanna had. It was true, but it was the first time that someone had shown the
slightest implication that I was more than just a body to them since I had left
home.
I walked
into the coffee shop that Kanna and I sometimes visited on our breaks.
to go to the corner store and get frappeccinos. At
least you could smoke in the coffee shop, which made it superior in my mind.
In the late
afternoon, the place was always rather crowded. The line was insufferably long,
and I sighed miserably. I couldn’t
believe how unlucky I was. That was when
I saw someone waving at me from the mass of people in the line.
I didn’t
know anybody outside Naraku’s place, so this was very strange to me. Maybe they
weren’t waving at me; maybe they were
waving at someone behind me. This made sense to me. But when I looked around, I
saw that they were definitely waving at me, so I moved closer to see exactly
who it was.
He was a
boy about my age with black hair and blue eyes. It took me a few moments to
realize that he had been one of those boys at the coffee shop a month ago when
I took Kanna there for the first time. What the hell was he waving at me for?
He was far up in the line, third back from the cash register in fact. So I
decided, what the hell, and went up to talk to him.
faster this way.
“Hey.” He
smiled at me as I realized I had forgotten his name completely. “Do you
remember me?”
“Kind of.”
I gave him a tight-lipped smile.
“I’m Kouga,
I was here a while ago with some friends. You were with your little sister.” He
elaborated for my benefit.
“Oh. Right,
Kouga.” I nodded my head.
“Do you
want to cut into line with me?” Kouga offered his spot, much to the annoyance
of the people behind him. “I’ll pay.” I wasn’t exactly sure why it was that he
was being so friendly, even though I suppose a part of me had some idea. Maybe
he thought he could pick me up or something.
Never had
Naraku said we couldn’t have sex with
people who weren’t paying for it, at at the same time, having sex with
customers all night took the zeal out of the whole idea. Nonetheless, I
couldn’t say no to cutting in line and free
coffee.
I stood
next to him for the whole ten seconds it took before it was our turn for
ordering.
“What do
you want?” Kouga asked me, pulling out some bills from his pockets in
preparation of paying for both of us.
paying for myself, but quickly dismissed that notion as stupid. Why would you
pay when someone was perfectly willing to do it for you?
After he
ordered (a mocha as well, but with a quad shot instead of a double), we got our
drinks and found an empty table to sit at. When we did, I pulled out my
cigarettes and lit one.
“So what’s
your name?” Kouga inquired.
“Kagura.” I
don’t really think I’d ever had a casual conversation like this since I had met
Naraku, and it was somewhat refreshing.
“I kept
coming around this place hoping to catch you again.” Kouga told me sheepishly,
leaning on the table a little so that our conversations somehow seemed more
private.
“Why?” I
eyed him warily. My experience with men was very limited, and so of course I
didn’t trust him.
“You seemed
interesting.” Kouga shrugged. “Both you and your little sister.”
“Kanna?” I
supplied.
“Yeah.”
Kouga leaned back in his chair now and took a drink of his mocha. “So, tell me
about yourself, Kagura.”
“Nothing to
tell.” I muttered into my drink. Tell you about me? Well, let’s see, I’m a
runaway who was tricked into prostitution, and yourself? Yeah right. I was
seriously questioning everything about this guy at the moment.
“That’s
what everyone says.” Kouga smiled at me slightly. He had a cute smile. There
was something downright deviant about it, like he was trying to figure me out
and was catching on, but didn’t want me to figure that out. “How old are you?”
“Twenty-one.”
I had to think about that one for a second. Birthdays weren’t big in this
business, and so I had practically forgotten when mine was at all. I suddenly
wondered when Kanna’s birthday was, and what I could do to celebrate it with
her. Maybe buy her a present or stop somewhere and get some celebratory
dessert.
around?
She’s just a kid…
turn. “See, that was something worth telling.”
“Yes, and
what a thing to tell.” I said sarcastically. “What about you? Why don’t you
tell me about yourself?” I thought by turning the tables on him he’d at least
have to stop asking me questions for a little bit.
“Well, my
name’s Kouga, like I said. I’m going to college because I want to be an English
teacher,” Kouga began to tick off items. “I have a really cheap apartment
pretty near here, and my friends think I live in a ghetto. I write in my spare
time and hope to be published as soon as I finish a novel.”
“So…you’re
a bum then?” I guessed.
“No, I’m a
writer.” Kouga did not seem happy with my thoughts on the subject. “I also work
at a gas station. Now you, do you go to college?”
“What do
you write about?” I pressed on, ignoring the question meant for me.
“People…”
Kouga looked a bit uncomfortable. “My novel is kind of a love story except…”
“Except
what?” I leaned against the table, and I had to admit I was more than a little
curious about this guy. He was kind of a weirdo, but that was okay. He seemed
perfectly harmless.
“I don’t
think the concept is right.” Kouga finally told me. “I keep trying to write the
idea out, but it comes out like all other love stories.”
“Write
something different.” I shrugged.
“You make
it sound like all you have to do is sit down and the story will be there
waiting for you when you start writing.” Kouga shook his head. “It’s harder
than that. See, I kind of based the two main characters off a couple of my friends,
but I don’t know, it’s hard to get them together
realistically.”
“Then find
more compatible friends.” I took a drag off my cigarette. Writers were damn
confusing. That’s all I had learned so far from my conversation with Kouga.
“Heh, why
didn’t I think of that?” Kouga gave me another smile. “Now come on, tell me
about yourself.”
“I t you you, there’s nothing to tell.” I put the cigarette out in the ashtray.
“You’re
purposely avoiding telling me.” Kouga’s blue eyes twinkled, and I had the distinct
feeling that he was enjoying this.
“I guess
so.” I wasn’t sure I could continue talking to Kouga. He was just going to sit
therd asd ask questions until I finally answered them. And how the hell could I
answer questions like that? I started to get up, grabbing my mocha to finish it
in peace, somewhere outside. Sure, it was still cold as hell outside, but it
was better than getting the third degree here with Mr. Inquisitor.
“Wait,”
Kouga stopped me, standing up. “Where are you going?”
“You ask
too many damn questions.” I informed him.
“That’s
because you answer less than ten percent of them.” Kouga quipped. I couldn’t
help it when a small laugh escaped me.
“I guess
I’m sneaky like that.” I walked around him and started heading for the door.
“Wait!”
Kouga was right behind me. Damn, what did it take to give this guy the message
that I didn’t want to sit and be
interrogated by him? I walked out the door and he grabbed a hold of my wrist. I
spun around, wondering if I was going to have to kick this guy’s ass or not.
“At least tell me your phone number.”
“What?” I
wrenched my wrist away from him, which was fairly easy. I had the distinct
impression he wasn’t holding me with even half of his strength, like he was
going to let me go any moment. “Why would you want that?”
“I want to
talk to you again. It’ll be more convenient than hanging around here hoping to
catch you another time.” Kouga gme ame a hopeful loohe ihe innocence of it
reminded me of a little kid. Nobody had ever looked at me like that before, and
I tried to think of what I should do, when I was distinctly aware of my face
heating up under his gaze.
“I don’t
have a phone.” I told him after a few moments of considering.
“Oh.” Kouga
looked a little disappointed. It was true, I didn’t have a phone. There was a
phone downstairs with reception, obviously, but I don’t think Goshinki was
willing to relay calls for me unless I did something for him, and there was
just no way I was doing anything for him ever.
“Look,” I decided
that I had to come clean at least slightly. “I’m not the type of girl that
respectable people talk to, anyways. I’m not someone you want to get to know
better. Just believe me.”
“I guess
I’m not respectable, then.” Kouga grinned at me and I found the corners of my
mouth twitching upwards.
“Alright,
here, give me your phone number.” I came up with a solution on the spur of the
moment. “I’ll call you from a pay phone, there’s one next to where I live.”
“You’ll
really call?” Kouga seemed excited by this.
“Yeah, I
guess so. If it’s so important to you.” I decided to be a good sport about it.
Kouga took out a pen, and having nothing else to write on, wrote his phone
number on a dollar bill. That was the story of my life.
“I’ll see
you around, Kagura.” Kouga told me as I put the bill in my pocket.
“Yeah, see
you around.” I gave him a small wave before turning and walking off towards my
place of business.
were a normal girl.
ever to me. I hated it with every fiber of my body. Part of me wanted to turn
and run, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t leave Kanna in this hellhole all by
herself. She didn’t have anybody else. I walked into the door to be greeted by
Goshinki.
“And where
were you?” Goshinki has this complex where he likes to pretend he’s in charge
or something.
“None of
your goddamn business.” I started to walk right past him, but he grabbed my arm
and yanked on me, pulling me off balance so that I fell backwards against the
wall where he pinned me with tight grips on my upper arms.
“You
weren’t giving anything away for free, I hope.” Goshinki’s
ugly face was right next to mine and my lip curled in pure disgust as I tried
to lean away from him, which was impossible. “If you were…I could make sure
Naraku doesn’t find out about it.” He leaned in and kissed my neck. I tried to
flail, and failing that, kicked him in the knee.
Goshinki
cursed as he let go of me.
“
in anger. “I was out having a cigarette, so keep your goddamn hands off me.”
“You can
act high and mighty all you want, Kagura, but one of these days…” Goshinki
straightened up. “You’ll have to answer to me about it.”
“You aren’t
my boss, asshole.” I went to the elevator and pressed the button. It was
waiting for me, and I got on immediately. I felt somewhat pleased with myself
for having just kicked Goshinki in the knee. Too bad I didn’t break his
kneecap. I guess you can’t have everything in life. I pulled out the dollar
bill with Kouga’s phone number scribbled in the corner and stared at it.
I had no
idea whether I was actually going to call him or not. It would be stupid to
call him, I reasoned, because my life wasn’t something I was ready to tell the
world about, let alone some stupid guy who probably just wanted to get me in
bed anyways. At the same time, his hopeful expression and clear blue eyes kept
coming to mind. I stuffed the dollar bill in my pocket again when the elevator
doors opened.
Kanna had
woken up and taken up her usual pastime which was staring at something in the
room for an immeasurable amount of time until either I spoke to her or it was
time to leave.
“Hey,
Kanna.” I greeted her. “I’m glad to see you.” And I was. Kanna didn’t ask me
stupid amounts of questions or try to feel me up. Kanna was like the friend I
had always wanted, except that she was so silent most of the time.
This life
of mine had become routine, and to think of changing it a little because of a
stupid phone number seemed like a bad idea. But hell, I was curious.
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