Call Center Romance

Chapter Four: More Surprises!

Monday morning dawned bright. Inuyasha stretched and yawned, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He had THAT dream again, the one where he was in the arms of some mystery maiden who was having her very wonderful way with him. A dream a man does NOT want to wake from. He went to the kitchen to prepare coffee and breakfast. Inuyasha had only to go to training class that evening, as Hank was being passive-aggressive. The schedule had Inuyasha only working two days from seven to three. Inuyasha growled to himself. ‘Peckerhead.’

As he tidied his apartment and did his laundry, his cell phone rang in the obnoxious tune he had set. Hey J-J-Jaded, you got your momma’s style but you’re yesterday’s child to me. So Jaded, you think that’s where its at…

He opened the Nokia flip phone to see Kikyo’s name on the caller id. Deciding he rather liked that song anyway, he let the phone continue to ring until it cut to voice mail. As soon as the Ode to Joy played, he checked his message.

“Hey Inuyasha, it’s me. You haven’t returned my calls and I just wanted to see how you are doing and if you are happy. I hope your new job works out. Listen, I hate to ask, but do you happen to have a couple of dollars I could borrow? The rent is due and my paycheck was a little short. Well, call me when you get this. Bye.”

Inuyasha rolled his eyes and deleted the message. ‘I knew it. The only thing that woman EVER wants from me is money. I wonder if that’s why she married me in the first place?’ Musing again about his ruined life, he sat down to watch a few episodes of Grey’s Anatomy on DVD. Another present from his buddies, this one for his birthday. Somehow he just related to the characters, well, that and that Addison Shepherd was REALLY HOT. Sometimes Karen would record it for him and come over to watch, they’d make popcorn and while she drooled over McDreamy and McSteamy, he’d drool over Addison and Callie. Then a good laugh would ensue. He was thinking of maybe dating Karen, she was a nice enough girl, but a little too innocent for his tastes. He didn’t want the responsibility of popping someone’s cherry.

As the drama ensued on the screen, Kikyo called him twice more. He again let it ring and deleted the messages without listening to them. ‘Money grubbing bitch. What was that Kanye West song? Oh yeah, Gold digger. He must have known Kikyo personally.’ Inuyasha chuckled to himself at the thought.

The day progressed and as two o’clock rolled around, Inuyasha showered and shaved, changing into a pair of khakis and a striped polo shirt. He remembered to grab a pen and notebook. He also recalled the name of the girl Tim wanted him to watch out for, ‘Kagome Higurashi, hope she’s cute.’

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He entered the front door and stepped into the directed conference room. In the room were two other people. A lovely young Latina girl sat in the farthest chair from the door, she gave him the once over and grinned flirtatiously. He smiled back and then took a seat at the head of the large conference table. Directly on his left sat a young lady who looked to be only a few years older than he appeared. She was wearing a burgundy button down blouse over black slacks and strappy black heels. Her long wavy black hair was in a half bun, half down style. She sat, legs crossed at the knee, with her notebook and pencil on the table and her hands folded neatly in her lap. The lady looked at Inuyasha out of the corner of her eye and then quickly looked back down when he caught her; she blushed the most adorable shade of pink he had ever seen.

Inuyasha drummed his fingers on the table, annoyed at the silence, and the Latina’s staring at him.

“What is this, a funeral? Or are we in church? Come on ladies say something, the silence is deafening!” Inuyasha said quietly, the girls jumped anyway, not expecting any noise to issue from the mouth of the handsome hanyou.

The Latina jumped at his invitation. “Nina Milan and you are?”

Inuyasha smiled brightly. “Inuyasha, the last name is impossible to pronounce so I will not even have you try.” Inuyasha stood and leaned across the table to shake Nina’s hand.

The young lady next to him stood and extended her hand as well. “Kagome Higurashi, pleased to meet you Inuyasha. I believe our mutual friend Tim told you to be looking for me?”

‘Well, she does have a voice. And a lovely one at that.’ “Indeed he did. A great pleasure, Ms. Higurashi.” Inuyasha gave her a firm handshake, when the first thing he wanted to do was kiss the back of her lovely hand like the lady she was.

Kagome laughed lightly. “Kagome please, I hear Ms. Higurashi so much I want to scream. Did Tim bother to tell you what my day job is?”

“No, he failed to mention it. Pray tell.”

“I’m a substitute secondary teacher. I haven’t finished my thesis to be a REAL teacher yet, so this just goes as experience toward a resume.”

“What subject do you teach?” Inuyasha’s interest was more and more piqued with every word that fell from her ruby lips. He had not expected the girl Tim mentioned to be so lovely AND intelligent.

“Earth and Space Science.” Kagome said with a smile.

‘Jackpot.’ Inuyasha was floored. More than he had ever imagined in a woman, the body of Botticelli’s Venus, and a mind like a steel trap. He had seen her somewhere before, he just couldn’t place her.

“Not a field you see many women in. Why did you make that choice?”

“I really get a kick out of weather and natural disasters. I can tell you anything you want to know about some of the most major storms in history. Not to mention the volcanoes and earthquakes. I just love the violent nature of the earth.” Kagome said with a glint in her eye.

“Wow, seems like you really enjoy your work. May I ask what is stopping you from getting your thesis finished?” Inuyasha queried, oblivious to the fact that the room was beginning to fill up and that there was more than one set of female eyes on his lovely self.

Kagome dropped her head and spoke to the floor. “I suck at English. My grammar and spelling are terrible and I know no one who can assist me in that arena. My last two theses were rejected as there were so many typos and misused words. I’ve almost given up on it and I think next year I may just take the classes I need for my masters.”

Inuyasha was about to reply when the trainer walked into the room. He looked up to see the most horrific sight he had seen in many years.

“Sesshomaru!?”

A/N: Another cliffy, but a good one. I know you may be getting annoyed with all the shoe leather, but I don’t include anything that isn’t vital to the story. It seems like there is not enough action but the seeds of romance are already being cultivated. Hope you enjoyed and Please review!

Lissa: Glad you like and hope this answers the Kikyo question, she is getting worse and I plan for her to make more trouble for Inuyasha. Hope you enjoy this chap and Thanks for Reading!

Danny Girl: I’m glad you appreciate the background and hope this answers a question or two. I plan on going into Kagome more in a future chapter. Thanks for stopping by!

InuyashasGypsyGurl: Yeah, I know I get mad when those customers don’t understand the meaning of the word no. Also glad that the Kikyo sitch hits home, she’s based on my ex husband, only he wasn’t a coke addict, he was worse. I hope this is soon enough. GO GET BACK TO WORK ON PRIMAL SCREAM!!! LOL j/k

OushizaSenshi: Thank you for stopping by. I’m glad you like it and hope that this chapter meets or exceeds your expectations. In regard to the structure compliments, I cannot really take credit for that. Blame FAR too many years in Honors English classes. LOL. Hope that you like this one as well.

Next chapter should be up by Saturday, but please bear in mind that I DO have to work. Writers block should not be an issue as this is based on my own life and I ALWAYS find something noteworthy to express.

Please Review!

Holly S
“I must leave, for there they go and I am their leader.”