Aitoshii

AUTHOR’S NOTE: I do not own Inu Yasha nor any of its characters. That honor goes to Rumiko Takahashi.

My fanfiction can also be found at inuyasha-fanfiction.com . It is a community dedicated to InuYasha no matter the pairing.

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“Uhn,” Kagome groaned as she awoke.

She rubbed her eyes, and then froze. The last time she was coherent, she had been working the stage at Aitoshii. Right now, she was in her own futon. She put her head in her hands and began mulling over how she missed getting home, but all she could come up with was the fact that she distinctly remembered seeing Sesshoumaru right in front of her naked body.

‘Oh kami, if whether that was real or not, shoot me.’

She knew that she was not imagining things. After her journeys in Sengoku Jidai, and the incident with ghosts and the Noh Mask, as well as her power as a miko, she no longer could say youkai did not exist. She was not scared of the youkai she noticed. She merely ignored them as she knew they had means of concealing themselves, and plus, she rarely encountered a rabid youkai or disgruntled spirit.

She looked under her covers and found herself naked and then looked to her door.

‘Yep. Stilettos by the door. Nothing missing except my clothes so that means I passed out. I’ll have to thank whoever took me home.’

Her futon was simple yet convenient, that slid from couch position to a bed position. She only had an economy sized room and in Japan, that meant she was practically living in a human sized sardine can. It was all she could afford. Everything in her home was bought with money she earned. Her living room consisted of a 13- inch television, a small desk, a computer, a small wardrobe, and her futon. She had a small half bathroom and a kitchenette. She had to go to the communal bath house that required payment for a bath, but overall, what she had was functional.

It was a far cry from living at the shrine, but that life was years behind her now. She could not drag herself down that alley of thought. It still was painful and she could not forgive herself for the things that had happened. Although Souta did, she could not.

She noticed on her desk chair a nice black blazer hanging.

‘Hmm, that certainly isn’t mine.’

She often returned home with items of clothing or other things that patrons of Aitoshii gave her. A lot of them she threw away, but the blazer was too nice to throw away. She picked it up and rummaged through the pockets and all she could find was a business card with a small note on the back.

‘Miko - I expect my jacket to be dry cleaned and returned immediately.’

The bottom was not signed with a name, but with the crescent moon.

‘This is Sesshoumaru’s coat. Why that jerk? I will not return it to him. He’ll just have to come to Aitoshii to retrieve it next weekend.’

She knew in doing that, it would provoke Sesshoumaru’s ire, but she did not care. She was busy already and although it was not a problem to get his jacket dry cleaned, it was the fact that he had been rude to ask her to go out of her way.

She growled to herself, “I defeated Naraku and he can’t say or do something nice. I’m tired of arrogant inuyoukais!”

She stood from her futon and quickly folded her blankets before placing them under so she could slide the futon into couch position. Once satisfied, she snagged a white terry cloth robe from her wardrobe and some of her bathing supplies.

‘Ugh, I still smell like cigarette smoke from the strip club. To the bath house.’

It was one of the things she hated. She did not discourage people from smoking, but it did bother her. The smoke would cling to everything and often make her sinuses act up. It was no where near the potency of Naraku’s miasma, but it was enough to make her eyes water with irritation.

The bath house in her neighborhood was a busy place, so it brought her a lot of relaxation. It was not an onsen, but the hot water was tepid enough for her to be content. It did not matter, every time since Sengoku Jidai that she bathed, it would remind her of the times she had girl talk with Sango in the onsens and streams. Sango had been like a sister to her. Her own friends in the modern era had never been as close. In fact, they had been very bothersome in trying to hook her and Houjou up all the time. She thought Houjou was a sweet and handsome boy, but not for her. When she had started living on her own and working at Aitoshii, her friends literally faded away from her life. They had not approved of her job.

‘Of course not, silly girl. They may have talked about sex and kissing, but erotic dancing is definitely leagues above. I know I shouldn’t be doing this, but it is all I have.’

She sank down under the bath water to rinse her hair before stepping out. She had another night to perform at Aitoshii. She only performed on Friday and Saturday as it brought good crowds with good money. The rest of the week she spent on her studies to finish school as she never finished school during her journey in Sengoku Jidai. It was embarrassing to her, however her old friends had truly thought that she had been quite ill most of junior high and high school. She had never gotten to graduate with her friends and had to be withdrawn from regular school and pay for private as according to the school’s regulations, she had become too old to attend regular school. This fact had deterred many employers from hiring her, thinking she would not be useful to their establishment.

The courses she took were okay, but she had never been much of a scholar. She became distracted too easily and practically the only thing that ever held her attention was history.

Kagome never did anything else outside studying, or the strip club. Often men would ask to date her, but she had no stomach for the whole relationship idea. She had put too much faith in love for a few years and in the end, it literally felt like there was nothing else her heart could give. The numbness is how she got the courage to get a job at Aitoshii. She simply did not care.

When she was done with her bath, she scuttled back to her room and threw on a pink sweat suit with black strips on the side of the arms and legs and a black hat with “Von Dutch” embroidered in pink and white on it. She pulled the bill of her hat down to conceal most of her face as in public, she did not want to attract attention. There was enough attention at Aitoshii and with the outfit and hat, she was not easily recognized.

‘But Sesshoumaru recognized you,’ she sighed deeply, almost grumbling as she made her way with his jacket draped over her arm.

She prepaid for the jacket to be cleaned and was assured that it would be cleaned by Tuesday. She did not care as she did not plan on picking it up until Thursday. The dry cleaners were out of her way from her regular schedule and even for a Saturday, she was cutting it close.

She usually worked out everyday, but on Saturdays was her short day as the gym closed at six. She usually went in for Pilates, spinning, and yoga. She use to lift weights, but after being ogled by all the men there, she decided that she could deal without building any type of muscle mass to her frame.

She always kept in top form since Sengoku Jidai. After all the low self esteem over comparing herself with a dead priestess, she strived to at least look in top form. She knew others thought she was pretty, maybe gorgeous, but those were just words from strangers. She did not agree and just humbly replied that she was just passable in looks. The stripping also required that she stay in great shape as some of the music she chose were more upbeat. She rarely danced to the swanky slow and seductive music or the rock n’ roll. Usually she danced to different types of techno. She loved it as there was barely voices singing and the music flowed and changed like water. She could fall into the music and drown, just happy to dance barely acknowledging her own nudity and the surrounding audience.

She did a variety of routines, but she did her traditional dance as a miko and that always pleased the crowd. Her other dances had involved dressing as a geisha, angel, dominatrix, and even a school girl. She hated the school girl act as it was actually something the owner had thought would be cute. What the owner had not known was that the outfit was so closely in colour and cut to her old school uniform that she did that routine as few times as possible. She had hated the uniform as it brought back so many bad memories.

‘No, I’m not going to go there. I can’t! Last time I ended up drunk and laying on the wet pavement in an alley.’

She did not often drink, but sometimes the memories came back and she just wanted to feel the pleasant numbness from alcohol spread through her body just to forget.


*** FLASHBACK ***


“Damnit, wench! Can’t you fucking shoot straight? We’ve been doing this for two years and you haven’t got it right yet?” Inu Yasha yelled, his amber eyes heated with anger as the flames from his Kazu no Kizu died down, vanquishing their latest foe.

“I’m not perfect, Inu Yasha? I don’t have any formal training. I try my best and practice when I can,” Kagome cried out, throwing her bow down.

“Damn straight you’re far from perfect. Sometimes I wonder if you are really Kikyo’s reincarnation. She always hit the target,” Inu Yasha said smugly.

Kagome froze. She hated it when he said things like it. After all this time and all the things they had gone through like Kaguya’s castle, the stone oni, and more, he could not get over the memory of Kikyo. She sighed sadly, her shoulders dropping in defeat, and then replied before walking away, “I’m sorry, Inu Yasha. Sometimes I wonder that too. I’m truly pathetic.”


*** END FLASHBACK ***


‘Oh kami!’ she stifled a sob. ‘No, I can’t go there! Not now!’

She wiped her eyes, and tried to recover her breathing so she could calm down. When she had come back to herself, she realized that she had gone through her whole workout at the gym in such a haze and already on the way to Aitoshii.

She hated when she succumbed to her memories and it left her feeling like she was ill. She quickly ventured into a Sushi bar and treated herself to a dinner before she forgot to eat and once finished, she made her way to the strip club. She always arrived around eight in the evening so she could prepare for her first routine. Aitoshii was a little like other strip clubs, but the VIP room was different and the girls dressed in various costumes that some patrons even admitted that their fantasies had been fulfilled. Kagome liked to dance in the VIP room as only a specific crowd visited and they usually were freer with tossing their money. She had originally started on the main floor and after a few good comments from a couple business partners with the owner of Aitoshii, she was asked to dance solely in the VIP Room and to be their opening stripper.

Once in the dressing room, she eyed an Egyptian wig and some gold and black paint. One of the other gals came up behind her and asked, “Feeling like something different, huh, Kagome?”

“Hai, perhaps I can be Cleopatra. Wanna help?” Kagome asked and then turned to the girl.

The girl was shorter than her and was a typical Japanese girl with the slanted eyes. The girl had been there at Aitoshii almost as long as Kagome and liked to be called “Ice” as she always wore white and blue and painted herself.

Ice grinned and replied, “Of course, Kagome! I promise to make you look good.”

Ice painted Kagome’s body sparingly with the gold and made her eyes look as if they had the kohl that the ancient Egyptians wore. While Kagome was being made up, the bartender had sent in a waitress to spread around drinks. A lot of the girls drank to get lax for the dance. Kagome was no different. Some of the other girls in the dressing room had heard and threw in some jewelry and some clothes that would go well. The Egyptian theme had never been used at the club, so she hoped that she did well.

When everything was in place, she wore a thin linen tube top lined with gold and a very short linen skirt barely covering her ass, leaving her gold thong in viewing range for eager eyes.

One of the other gals let her borrow their gold four inch high stilettos and another had piled a gold necklace that had several draping layers. She wore a short braided wig and she had to admit while looking in the mirror that all the girls had done well.

“Well, I guess I owe a drink for each of you. This is really good,” she grinned and then heard the DJ announcer her over the speaker to the VIP room. “Well, wish me luck. That’s my call.”

“Wait! Wait!” two voices called out, rushing up to her.

They were painted from head to toe in black and had cat ears, a long black tail and whiskers. Their eyes were painted to seem like they were cats. Both girls wore green contacts to make some difference from their dark eyes and body paint. The two girls were usually from the regular floor, but Kagome sometimes often danced with other girls with her on the stage.

Ice smiled and said, “These gals wanted to dress up as black cats to complete the look.”

“Okay, come on. Let’s make them drool, girls!” Kagome said and ventured to the stage.

Once on stage, it was black, and Kagome noticed a few feathered fans off to the side of the stage stuck in.

‘Those girls sure got excited about trying this routine.’

She walked to the front and center and the two cat girls curled up near her feet reminding her much how sometimes Kirara would like to curl at her feet when she was not around Sango.

The DJ started with a Middle Eastern type tune first before hitting the actual music. He had heard about her intended routine and had never been wrong on picking music that she could dance easily to. Slowly the lights came up and Kagome was belly dancing, her eyes half lidded, and her hands up in the air, as she started with swinging her hips a bit to the music. She had been a fan of Shakira and had studied up on her music videos with the belly dancing as it was really fascinating to her.

As the music turned to the resonating techno beat, she mixed her moves between the two types and the cat girls started to rise and dance with her. Kagome did not dare look at the crowd as it would be a distraction, so she kept dancing, occasionally brushed intimately by the other girls as they removed her clothes for her, being that she was suppose to be Cleopatra. When the girls were done stripping her, she only had the necklace, stilettos and the wigs on.

Of course, during her routine, she was worried that Sesshoumaru had shown up again, but he was not there at least to her senses. She knew he could conceal his presence entirely, so she gave up trying and just thought that if she did see him, then so be it.

She worked the poles as usual, and gyrated her body. At the end of the song there had been a climatic burst so she jumped up and grabbed the steering wheel on the top of the ceiling and spinned herself like crazy. It was a neat trick and always made the crowd go wild. The previous evening she had ended with a flip going into splits right off the poles. She tried to vary her moves so any of the regulars would not get bored.

As she started to slow down from the spinning, she let go and landed. The cat girls were working the patrons near the sides of the stage and so she slid up to the front to work her part.

She hated when the guys touched her, but as long as it was anything but her treasured area, she was fine. In the past, she had a few daring men try it and they had been immediately booted from the club without refund of their membership.

After her routine, she and the other girls ventured back stage. Some of the other girls were already on the floor doing lap and table dances, but the few that were getting ready for stage next hugged her and said she was great. One even passed around some shots tp her and the others, and then made a toast

“Higurashi!” she heard the owner, a short dark haired man call out.

Kagome grabbed a robe, and then turned to follow the boss into his office.

“This will be quick. You have the rest of the evening off, Higurashi. Here is your pay. There’s a bonus in there. The other gals will bring in your tips that were on the stage. Your new routine earned us half a dozen new VIP members who paid fully in cash. Have a good night,” he said and made a hand gesture to dismiss her.

She rarely got lucky enough to get out of working a whole evening, and even more rare to get a bonus.

‘Well, that was a surprise,’ she thought, gripping her money in hand as she made her way to her things.

She gathered her things and then went to the shower to wash off her makeup and body paint. She did not want to get itchy while walking home. She did not enjoy showers, but it would suffice until she could have a bath. After dressing, she took the back door as it was policy for all the girls to go that way.

“Ka- Kagome?” she heard a man ask.

Kagome looked in the direction of the voice and her eyes settled on a tall dark haired man with piercing blue eyes.

“Sorry sir, but do I know you?” Kagome asked, slightly wondering why he was near the backdoor waiting for her.

“Um, yeah, well you see, it’s been a long time,” he replied nervously, scratching the back of his head. “The name is Kouga. I saw you dancing last night. I was there with Sesshoumaru. You didn’t forget about me, Kagome?”

Kagome smiled and answered, “No, I didn’t forget about you, Kouga. It may have been several centuries since you last saw me, but it has only been a few years for me.”

“Ah, so the whole time travel thing was not a lie,” he grinned.

“Yep, but it doesn’t work anymore. I’ve had to move on,” she said softly.

“Well, here’s my card. Call me and maybe we can have lunch to catch up on old times,” he suggested and then offered his business card to her.

She accepted and kissed him on the cheek. She laughed to herself how she use to be much shorter and now she was tall enough to not have to tip toe to kiss him on the cheek.

“Hai, that sounds fine. I wouldn’t mind talking to an old friend again,” she said and then walked off.

She did not want to linger as she knew the wolf was still obsessed about her. She had always kissed her sweet guy friends on the cheek, but a few, Kouga included thought too much on the kiss. It was just a friendly kiss.

‘Damnit! He’s going to tell Sesshoumaru and keep bothering me with his words of endearment,’ she fumed as she walked home.