Okaa-san

A/N: So this chapter is way overdue; totally sorry about that but it couldn't be helped. I hope you like this and don't forget to rate and review.

NOTE: 'connotes thought'


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Chapter 7
Shopping is Fun. . . For Women


Sesshomaru wanted to shoot himself. No, scratch that. He wanted to shoot the annoying woman in front of him babbling on about how cute Rin would look in rubber ducky foot pajamas.

“Just buy it, woman. Money is of no consequence.” He then eyed the shopping cart she was currently pushing. “Besides, I believe Rin now has a sufficient amount of clothing.”

Kagome grinned at Sesshomaru. “She’s a girl, Sesshomaru; she can never have enough clothing.” She then turned to Rin who was quietly watching the two interact from her place in the carrier at the top of the cart. “Can you, Rin? You can never have enough clothes, can you?”

Rin giggled and gurgled at Kagome’s questions veiled in the baby talk Sesshomaru had yet to grow accustomed to. If the child did not enjoy being spoken to in such a way, Sesshomaru would have quickly put an end to Kagome’s manner of speech. Unfortunately for him, Rin smiled every time Kagome spoke to her in that aggravating voice.

“No, you can never have enough clothes. One day when you’re bigger, you and I will spend an entire day in Ginza and we’ll put the hurt on your daddy’s credit card.” Kagome tickled Rin’s sides earning a gummy smile in return. “Won’t we? Yes we will.”

“Enough, woman,” Sesshomaru commanded irritably. He was not only growing tired of
Kagome’s talking but also the shopping. He had been under the impression that it would be a quick affair composed of buying the essential diapers, bottles, and pacifiers, but of course he had been wrong; Kagome had dragged out the process for several hours by scouring the entire store for strollers, toys, high chairs, and nursery themes. So far, she had liked the stars and moon theme the best.

“Can we finish this soon so that we can go back home?” Sesshomaru questioned in a tired voice. “I am sure that Rin will live without many of the frivolities you have insisted on purchasing.”

Kagome huffed and stomped her foot on the ground, her hands fisted on her hips. “These things are not frivolous – they are necessary. We have yet to even buy her a crib. Ideally I would like to buy everything for her nursery in a set. That would make everything much easier. That reminds me: we should also check out their wallpaper choices. I’m thinking a light blue with a yellow trim to go along with that stars and moon themed nursery we saw early. Besides, it’s unisex so that way when she grows out of the nursery you can just move her into a different room and keep the nursery as is just in case you decide to have more children.”

Sesshomaru sighed. “Already you are making plans for my future. Can we not focus on the now?”

“Well, yes. And right now, we need to get Rin bath essentials.” She turned away from Sesshomaru and began to push the cart out of the clothing aisle in search of Rin’s bath needs. “Do you have a sink large enough to hold Rin? If not we can get a small tub to put in the bathtub for when we bath her.”

Sesshomaru growled at the thought of bathing his daughter in a sink. “Get the tub. I refuse to clean my child in a sink as if she were some piece of produce.”

Kagome laughed at Sesshomaru’s unnecessary concern over his daughter. Bathing a baby in a sink wasn’t bad; hell, Kagome’s mother always bathed her and Souta in the sink until they were too big.

“All right,” she conceded, “we’ll get the tub.” She continued down the aisle with Sesshomaru in tow, and noted at how possessive he had suddenly become over Rin. When he had first arrived at her house, he had barely called the girl by her name; now not only did he refer to her as his daughter but also showed a concern over her wellbeing that would have rivaled that of any biological parent.

Kagome just had to know what caused the change.

“Sesshomaru?” She called hesitantly to the man next to her.

“Hn,” he replied to let her know that he was paying attention.

“Why are you all of the sudden so accepting of Rin as your daughter? I mean, when you were first at my house you barely even paid her any attention, but now you’re playing the role of adoring father.”

Sesshomaru met her inquisitive gaze and answered her question honestly. “She is pack now. At first it was difficult for me to accept her role as it always is when there is a new member within the pack but now that I have been allowed time to properly associate myself with her I have come to accept her. The additional time has also allowed my scent to mix with hers, successfully identifying her as belonging to me. Her scent has calmed me somewhat, making it easier to consider her my daughter.”

“Oh. I didn’t realize that it was so instinctual for you.” She stopped the stroller when they reached the appropriate aisle but didn’t stop their
conversation. “I’m assuming then that your father’s disappearance was to give you enough time to let your inu accept Rin as pack. He knew that once you had accepted her that you wouldn’t let her go.”

Sesshomaru, although incensed at the very mention of his father, could not help the smile that touched his lips at her insightfulness. “You are correct in that assumption. I am sure that my father will return soon; it doesn’t take long for an inu to bond with another as he is fully aware.” He glanced at her out of the side of his eyes as she perused the various baby tubs and decided on a simple pink one. “I am curious, however, to know as to how you achieved your knowledge of youkai. As dreadful as it is to mention it, you did hold your own very well this afternoon against my beast.”

Kagome merely shrugged. “Don’t feel bad about what happened; you couldn’t help your beast. My jii-chan taught me about youkai instincts and their beasts. I knew that you weren’t yourself and in any situation like that, a bit of holy power always brings a youkai back to their senses. Growing up on a shrine does have its advantages you know.”

She leaned over Rin and threw the tub in the rather full cart. As she pulled back she stopped and tapped the bubbly Rin on the nose. “If you are lucky little one you will never have to know what it’s like to grow up with my jiji. I’m going to prolong your meeting as soon as possible.”

Sesshomaru frowned at her statement. “Is your grandfather not an agreeable man? Usually it is an honor to be imparted with the wisdom of your elders.”

Kagome made a strange face, caught between a grimace and a laugh. “My jiji is unique,” she cautiously said. “He can sometimes say the wisest of things, but most of what spurts out of his mouth is pure B.S. Growing up with him was quite an experience. Well actually, it was multiple experiences filled with many I’d rather forget.”

She started to push the cart again. “Just be glad that you didn’t meet him today. When Souta said that you would’ve been covered in sutras, he was right. My jii-chan is very old fashioned - he doesn’t take kindly to demons.”

Sesshomaru shoved his hands in his pants pockets and continued along next to Kagome. “An old man would have posed no threat to this Sesshomaru.”

Kagome sent a scathing look his way. “I’m not worried about you, Sesshomaru. My jii-chan is eighty years old; there’s no way he could hurt you. Hell, he couldn’t even hurt a fly if he tried to. I’d be worried about your reaction to him if he attempted to purify you. That’s what I’d be worried about.”

She stopped again at a shelf that held several shampoos and body washes safe for a baby’s use. Carefully pulling several bottles off the shelf, Kagome began to read each of their labels to ascertain what the best brand was for Rin.

Sesshomaru disinterestedly stared at his Italian loafers, bored out of his mind. He was excited at the addition of Rin but shopping was not how he liked to express it. If he had his way he would have just sent a servant out to buy all of Rin’s necessities but Kagome’s presence had quickly put a halt to that idea. If only he had something to do.

A soft gurgle from Rin posed an appropriate distraction and Sesshomaru leapt at the opportunity to finally do something other than stand at Kagome’s side. He moved towards the cart and gently unstrapped Rin from her carrier so that she rested in his arms. Sesshomaru squeezed her side, illiciting a small coo of excitement and an all consuming smile.

Kagome turned to throw two bottles of shampoo and baby wash into the cart when she caught the endearing sight. She had been unaware that Sesshomaru knew how to hold a baby but was yet again surprised by the enigmatic inu-youkai. A smile formed on her lips as she watched Sesshomaru make ridiculous faces at Rin. Never before had she seen the man so free in public before.

Rin giggled at her father’s antics and clapped her hands together in joy. When Sesshomaru’s silver bangs parted to reveal the indigo crescent gracing his forehead, one of Rin’s hands promptly reached out to touch the marking. Sesshomaru indulged her as Rin’s tiny palm rubbed against the mark. He laughed when she pulled away and looked at her hand, assuming that she had been able to grab the object off of her father’s forehead. She tried again, but when she was unsuccessful, her brows began to furrow and her face flushed.

To prevent the oncoming onslaught to his ears that he knew was to come, Sesshomaru leaned down to Rin and started nuzzling his nose against her small neck. It was an inu gesture, but Sesshomaru hoped that even though Rin was human, she would still understand what he was doing.

Rin quieted instantly at her father’s touch and soon she was lulled to sleep by the gentle motion of Sesshomaru as he continued to nuzzle her and make soothing circles across her back. She lay her suddenly tired head against the suit-clad shoulder of her father and was soon resting peacefully in her father’s arms.

“You know, if you don’t want that suit ruined you should take the rag,” Kagome said as she pulled the dishrag that she had now dubbed the “drool rag” out of her purse and handed it to Sesshomaru.

He gratefully took it and placed it underneath Rin’s head, careful not to wake her from her impromptu nap.

Kagome wanted to laugh at the picture
Sesshomaru made. He was standing in a store that under normal circumstances he would have never been caught dead in, surrounded by a countless number of baby products. Sesshomaru still wore his grey suit from work, but somehow Kagome had convinced him to at least lose the tie. With the tie left in his car, the top two buttons to his white work-shirt were left unbuttoned in a relaxed state, revealing the expanse of alabaster skin of his neck and top of his collarbone. His jacket too was left unbuttoned to allow him free motion and when Kagome had suggested he leave that also in the car, she had been met with the hard stare of an irritated youkai and had left the matter alone.

Apparently he didn’t like to be told what to do.

Kagome turned back to the cart and looked at what items she had, determining what they still needed. “All right, we have almost everything now. We still need to get her some formula though.” Luckily, Sesshomaru’s father had left
Sesshomaru a care package before he disappeared allowing them enough milk to last Rin for several days. However, they had used the last of it to feed her before they had left the shrine. “She might be able to take solid foods soon but with her size I think it would be best to keep her on a liquid diet.”

Sesshomaru gave Kagome a critical appraisal with his eyes and when his gaze rested on her chest, she nearly blushed. “Why must we buy ‘formula’ as you call it? You are a woman; can you not feed her yourself?”

Kagome hid her face behind her hands. ‘Did he seriously just ask me that?’ she thought to herself. ‘Because if he did, I might just want to crawl under a rock and die rather than answer that question.’

When she finally found the tactfulness that she needed to actual give Sesshoomaru a decent answer she pulled her hands away and met Sesshomaru’s wondering eyes. “Because,” she started, “I didn’t give birth to Rin and am therefore not lactating. Besides, I’m not really into the whole breastfeeding idea.”

Sesshomaru’s left eyebrow arched at the thought of breastfeeding. It was only right that he explore the manner of feeding further, for the sake of science of course – not that his curiosity towards Kagome had anything to do with it.

“You find the thought offensive? Isn’t it only natural to feed your child with what is produced from your body?” Sesshomaru gave Rin a pat on her back and continued, “I assumed that all women fed their offspring with their own milk.”

Kagome’s face rivaled the color of a tomato at Sesshomaru’s forwardness on the topic. “Well, I’ve always heard that breastfeeding can be somewhat painful and the weaning process to be difficult. Besides, what if I was in public and my child needed to be fed? – I can’t just rip my top off and start feeding them. It isn’t seemly.”

His dark brows disappeared behind his thick bangs in disclosure. “You wish not to feed a child simply because of your embarrassment?”

Kagome slapped his arm with an admonishing air. “You make it sound as if I would let my baby starve.”

“If you refuse your teat, then you would be allowing any child you have to starve.” At Kagome’s irate countenance, he attempted to further goad her. “You deny your body what it naturally wants. Wouldn’t your breasts swell and become tender from not feeding your child?”

Kagome’s hanging jaw and widened eyes were enough to cause a satisfied smirk to form on Sesshomaru’s face.

When Kagome saw Sesshomaru smirking she couldn’t help but vent her frustration on the man with a good verbal lashing. “You did that on purpose! Kami, you are so frustrating. I think you enjoy humiliating me. It’s sick that you get your kicks out of making me all flustered.”

“Not to mention,” she went on in a more subdued tone, “whether I breastfeed or not isn’t any of your concern. My future husband and I can cross that bridge when we get there.”

For some reason that thought didn’t sit well with Sesshomaru and it disturbed him that he would even care. “Hn. Do what you will with your own children, but Rin will only receive the best.”

Kagome took a step back at Sesshomaru’s suddenly cold tone. To think that he accused her of having a mercurial temperament when he too changed emotions as easily as if he were flicking a light switch on and off - what a hypocrite.

“As you wish, Your Majesty,” Kagome spoke in a mocking benevolent tone. At the threatening growl he released, Kagome decided to try and placate him instead. “I’m getting Rin the best formula there is, so don’t worry about it. You need to relax, okay?”

“This Sesshomaru cannot relax so long as we remain here. We have been shopping in this accursed place for nearly two hours. All of this is unnecessary. Let us go home and I will send a servant out to gather the remainder of our un-purchased items.”

Kagome wanted to scream at the aggravating youkai before her, but settled for her own feminine imitation of a growl instead. “We have almost everything. If you really want to get out of here so badly then go back to where we saw the nursery and pick up a ticket for the set. I’ll go pick up Rin’s formula and then we’ll meet at the cash register. That way, things will go much faster and we can leave sooner. Does that work for you?”

“Indeed,” Sesshomaru answered outwardly indifferent but Kagome knew better - he was gloating on the inside and it annoyed her that he was so pleased with himself.

“Are you going to take Rin with you or do you want to leave her with me?”

“She will be fine with me.” Sesshomaru, with a baby Rin in his arms, turned on his heels and with a speed she hadn’t seen used before, rushed out of the aisle and towards the nursery they had previously seen.

“Kami, he doesn’t have to be so eager about leaving.” Kagome shook her head and made her way to the next aisle over where she knew the formula and baby food to be at.

It was surprising that Sesshomaru was taking this whole fatherhood thing in stride. Kagome never pictured the youkai as being someone who would be particularly good with children, but so far he had been doing very well with Rin. The baby girl seemed to be enamored with Sesshomaru and although he remained overtly vexed over the entire affair, Kagome could tell that he held affection for the child as well. She just sincerely hoped that Sesshomaru would be able to handle diaper duty and midnight feedings; if he expected her to do all the work, then he had another thing coming. He needed to learn what it really meant to be a father – nanny or not, Kagome was going to show him what that entailed.

Although things seemed to be going well already, there were still many unanswered questions. Where did Rin come from? Who were her parents? Were they dead? Did Inu no Taisho kidnap her? Where did he get a child from?

With Sesshomaru being left in the dark about the situation as well, Kagome could only wait until his father returned and satisfied her curiosity. It annoyed her that Sesshomaru could care less about Rin’s background and only wished for the arrival of his father so that he could severely injure the man. Obviously, there were some serious family issues that needed to be straightened out. For Rin’s sake, she hoped that their problems would be taken care of soon before the child realized that her father wished to kill her grandpa - that had the potential of being an awkward conversation on Kagome’s part.

“Well Rin,” she imagined telling the girl when she was older, “your father wishes to kill your jiji because he kind of just dumped you in his lap one day. It’s not that your father doesn’t love you or anything like that, it’s just that he hates his father even more. I hope there are no hard feelings about it. Sesshomaru really does love you. . . I think.”

Nope. If Kagome had her way, there wouldn’t be a single drop of blood spilt. But then again, Sesshomaru was much bigger then she was and he could hold a grudge for a very long time. Hell, if he really wanted to he could just wait until she was old and grey and then make his move. It would be so like Sesshomaru to do something like that. That youkai had the patience of a living saint. Well, he was more like the devil but she imagined that the devil was a fairly impatient person.

“Holy crap,” Kagome muttered to herself as she turned the corner to see shelves upon shelves stocked full of baby formula. “How can there be that many different types of formula? Oh Kami, Sesshomaru is gonna love this. He’ll be so pissed when he figures out that I’m not going to be at the cash register when he wants me to be.”

Kagome moved forward and took a deep breath to steel her resolve. “Well, sweet cheeks, ain’t no time like the present. Better get this done and over with.”

Soon, Kagome was lost in the world of baby formula.

“What’s better: concentrated or powdered?” She eyed the two different cans. “I know concentrated is more expensive but is it better? And what about iron? Should I get the iron-fortified?” Thinking of Rin, she decided that the little baby could use more iron in her diet. “She is fairly small and I don’t want her to become anemic or anything awful like that. Heck, I wonder if she’s even seen a doctor yet. I should tell Sesshomaru that we should find her a pediatrician tomorrow.”

Having officially decided on iron-fortified formula, Kagome still had yet to determine whether concentrated or powdered formula was better.
Kagome rubbed the bridge of her nose in an attempt to massage her sudden headache away. “Maybe I should just get both. It’s not like Sesshomaru can’t afford it.” She sighed. “No, that would be wrong not to mention a waste as well.”

“Kagome?” a familiar voice questioned from behind her. “Higurashi Kagome? Is that you?”

Kagome stood dumbstruck at the sound of the voice behind her. If it was who she believed it to be, then she was in a world of trouble. ‘Oh, Lord. This is exactly what I need right now. Of all the people, why did it have to be her?’

Kagome plastered the biggest fake smile she could muster on her face and turned to meet her unwanted visitor, devastated to see that her intuition had been correct. “Hi, Fumi,” Kagome fallaciously gushed. “How are you?”

The tall dark-haired woman before her nodded her head, causing a short strand of curly hair to fall into her eyes. “I’m doing great. I can’t believe it’s you though. I haven’t seen you since we graduated.”

“Yup. Long time no see.” And Kagome secretly wished that it had stayed that way. It wasn’t that she didn’t like her old college roommate Fumi, it was just that Fumi had the notorious reputation of being a gossip. What added to Kagome’s dread was the knowledge that Fumi had become a reporter for a huge tabloid in Tokyo.

Oh, yeah: Sesshomaru was really going to be pleased once he heard about this. Kagome only hoped that he didn’t come searching for her; if he did, Fumi would only make assumptions that couldn’t be put down no matter how much explaining Kagome did.

“So, how are you doing since college? Did you get that big job you’ve always dreamed about?”

Kagome scratched the back of her head. “Well, sorta. I did land a job as a personal assistant to Taisho Sesshomaru. But things changed and now I have a different role.”

“I bet.” Fumi pointed to the empty baby carrier. “I can see that things sure did change. So, I guess that’s your job now, huh? Taking care of the little one?”

“Well, technically yes, but she’s-“

But Fumi cut Kagome off before she could explain. “Yup, being a mom can be difficult. I would know for myself.” She rubbed her swollen belly. “This is my second already. Hiro and I our expecting this little fella in four more months. You remember Hiro don’t you? You met him when we were dating. Remember?”

“I remember,” Kagome replied with that still fake grin on her face. She was finding it increasingly difficult to keep the façade up; her cheek muscles were starting to twitch and she was afraid that she was going to lose feeling in her face soon.

“Anyways, he’s at home now with our oldest, Kimie. She just turned two last week.” Fumi nodded her head, lost in her own conversation, oblivious to Kagome’s rapidly losing interest. “Luckily, having kids doesn’t interfere with my job. The paper just has me work from home.”

“That’s great, Fumi,” Kagome harmonized with an enthusiasm she didn’t feel.

“I know, right?” Fumi sighed and looked off into space as if lost in her own thoughts. “I guess I started early but I wanted a family so badly. Hiro proposed right after college and it didn’t take long for me to get knocked up.” She elbowed Kagome in the side with a goofy grin on her face and gave what she thought to be a conspiratorial wink. “Ya know what I mean? I bet you do.”

“Well, actually, Fumi, I don’t –“

But Fumi was off again in her own little world. “Yep, things have been pretty good to me. Working for Yomiuri Weekly has been great. The money is wonderful and they have been really supportive about me pursuing a family. And then Hiro’s personal business has been more successful than we could have dreamed. He just opened another branch to the business in Kyoto. We never thought that it would expand outside of Tokyo but we were surprised to see that people love the knickknacks he sells.

“My life has been more than I expected it to be since college. I hope it’s been the same for you.” Fumi began to absentmindedly rub circles along the underside of her protruding belly; the action caught Kagome’s eye, and she couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to have a child of her own. “So,” Fumi began, “have things been good for you?”

Kagome, glad to finally have a say in this one-sided conversation, replied, “Yes, things have been pretty good. As you know, because I graduated with my MBA at such a young age, my job opportunities were endless but I decided to go with Shiroi Media. The position itself wasn’t exactly what I wanted, but there was a great potential for promotion so I took it.”

“I guess it didn’t hurt that you were working alongside that hunk of meet, Taisho Sesshomaru. The man is a walking god, for heaven’s sake!” Fumi looked around her to make sure the aisle was clear before leaning in close to the much shorter Kagome. “Just between us girls, did you get a piece of that? I hear he is a demon in the sack,” Fumi whispered excitedly.

Kagome giggled nervously, uncomfortable with the topic. “Well, to be honest, Fumi –“

“Woman, where have you been?”

Kagome nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of the cool baritone voice in her ears.

“Rin and I have been waiting for you at the register but your dallying has forced me to seek you out. Are you ready to leave yet? Rin will wake soon and when she does she will be hungry. Have you found the formula that you were looking for?”

Kagome cursed Sesshomaru underneath her breath for his impatience to leave; of all the times for the man to lose his impeccable patience, it would have to be now in front of a tabloid reporter no less.

“Actually, Sesshomaru, I haven’t.” At his displeased growl, Kagome explained. “I bumped into my old college roommate, Fumi, here and we’ve been catching up with one another.” Knowing that it was a mistake but would be considered rude if she didn’t, Kagome introduced Fumi to Sesshomaru. “Fumi, this is Taisho Sesshomaru. Sesshomaru this is Yoshida Fumi, my former college roommate.”

Fumi merely stood there gawking at Sesshomaru.

Sesshomaru gave Fumi the once-over and then quickly dismissed her as not being worth his time. “Woman,” he addressed Kagome, “grab Rin’s formula and then let us leave this God forsaken place. I refuse to remain here any longer. The hormonal women occupying this place refuse to remove their eyes from my person and I no longer wish to be subject to their lustful stares.”

Kagome rolled her eyes at Sesshomaru’s overdramatic theatrics. “Fine, fine, fine. Let me grab the formula so we can leave.”

Kagome turned to Fumi with a somewhat apologetic look. “I’m sorry, Fumi, but we’ve got to go. It was fun talking to you though.”

Somehow Fumi was able to close her agape mouth and regain her overused mouth. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me that you were with Taisho Sesshomaru. How could you keep something like that from me? Better yet, how is it that no one knew that he had gotten married and had a child?”
Fumi started going over all the possibilities for a story through her head as Kagome tried to get a word in edgewise but to no avail. “This is great! My editor is going to love this. I’ll be the only one to have this story.”

“But, Fumi that’s not the case at all. You see, Sesshomaru is my boss and –“

“Kagome, let the woman be.” Sesshomaru grabbed Kagome’s arm to draw his attention to him. “Let her think what she wants. It is of no consequence to me.”

“But, Sesshomaru, you have the notorious reputation as being Japan’s most desired bachelor. Fumi can singlehandedly ruin that for you.” Fumi continued babbling to herself about story titles as Kagome reasoned with Sesshomaru. “She will have a story printed about us in Yumui Weekly by tomorrow morning. Every single person in Tokyo will see that and think that you’re married to me and Rin is our child.”

“So? Let them think what they want. The public’s opinion has never mattered to me, so why correct their thinking?” He glanced at a still sleeping Rin on his shoulder. “Besides, it is not as if I will be enjoying the perks of bachelorhood so long as I have Rin.”

Kagome looked incredulously at Sesshomaru. “And that’s okay with you?”

Sesshomaru nodded his head. “No woman deserves to be with this Sesshomaru so long as they cannot accept Rin’s place in my life. Her welfare comes before any of my needs.”

“That is probably the most mature thing I have ever heard you say.” Kagom shook her head with a smile on her face. “All right then; be prepared to see a front page article about our secret marriage and lovechild tomorrow morning. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Kagome turned back to Fumi. “Fumi, I wish you the best of luck with your article and your pregnancy. It was a pleasure seeing you again but we got to run.”

“No, I think the best title would be ‘Sorry Ladies: Taisho Sesshomaru is Single No More.’ Yeah, that would be the best.” When Kagome’s words finally registered with Fumi, Kagome, Sesshomaru, and Rin were already making their way down the aisle and towards the front of the store having already grabbed the formula and finished with their shopping.

“Wait,” Fumi called. “I have so many questions for you guys.”

“Sorry, Fumi, but we don’t have any answers to give.” Kagome waved to her goodbye and kept walking with Sesshomaru. “Write what you want, we don’t care.”

“Please,” Fumi begged, “just one question.”

Kagome sighed and looked to Sesshomaru for guidance but when he just shrugged his shoulders, Kagome relented. “All right,” she began turning around and walking back to Fumi. “I’ll answer one question.”

Fumi looked over Kagome’s shoulder to an agitated Sessshomaru, standing with Rin still sleeping in his arms. She had to make this count – if not for the tabloids then at least to satisfy her own personal curiosity.

Fumi smiled impishly at Kagome and Kagome had the distinct feeling that she was going to regret her acquiescence to this.

“I just got to know, Kagome – does the carpet match the drapes or is it dark like his eyebrows?”

Kagome’s answer was to simply turn on her heal and walk away. “Goodbye, Fumi. Best of luck with everything.”

She met back up with a smirking Sesshomaru who was pleased at the sight of the fuming reporter. “I did not like her anyway. Her scent is displeasing and it was rude of her to ask such a personal question.”

Kagome stopped. “You heard that?”

“Of course I did. I am a youkai after all. My senses are far superior to that of a normal human being.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ve heard this before.” She watched as he placed Rin back into the carrier. “I’m assuming that you are ready to leave now.”

He lowered her eyes at her in a menacing glare. “Woman, I have been ready to leave since we first stepped foot into this forsaken place.”

“Geesh, you act as if I’m torturing you or something. We are shopping for your daughter after all. This should be fun.”

“Have you known shopping to be fun for any man?”

Kagome tapped her finger against her chin, actually taking his question seriously. “Well, that depends: are you talking about straight men or gay men? Because I know a lot of gay men who enjoy shopping.”

“I am not a homosexual,” Sesshomaru gritted out between his teeth, “and I consider any man of that persuasion to be no better than a woman.”

“Hey! That’s a sexist comment for both women and gay men.” Kagome crossed her arms across her chest and turned her back on Sesshomaru. “And I was not insinuating that you were gay.”

Sesshomaru ran a claw through his bangs. “I apologize for offending you. Now, can we please just leave? If we stay any longer, this
Sesshomaru cannot be held accountable for his actions. I cannot guarantee that blood will not be shed if we remain here a second longer than necessary.”

Kagome waved her hand dismissively. “Yeah, fine, whatever. We can leave. Did you get the ticket like I asked?”

“Hai, I did. A man assisting me said that I must pull the car up to load it with the furniture.”

“Okay then. Give me the ticket and you can take Rin to the car and pull up to the curb so we can get everything in.” At the barely veiled eager glint in Sesshomaru’s tawny eyes, Kagome went against her previous statement. “Actually, give me the keys and I will get the car. I’m afraid that once you leave, you might not come back.”

A discontent rumble rolled through Sesshomaru at being denied his escape. “I will do no such thing.” That was a lie; he had been planning on just driving away, seeing as how much Kagome loved this store, she should have no problem with being left in it.

Clearly Kagome didn’t believe him. “Uh huh, whatever you say. Just give me the keys and I’ll take Rin out to the car. Anyways, you have all the cash that’s going to pay for this so you’ll have to be the one to wait in line. We’ll be waiting in the car for you.”

Sesshomaru reluctantly handed her the keys to his car and longingly watched her walk away with Rin in her carrier, wishing that he was the one who was exiting the store. He exhaled silently and girded himself for the oncoming task of going to the register. It would undoubtedly take an exceptionally long time to pay for all the items Kagome insisted on purchasing for Rin.

He started pushing to cart towards the front of the store near to where the checkout counters were.
When he rounded the corner of the aisle however, he visibly flinched at the sight before him.

“Is it necessary for every parent with a child under the age of three to be here right now?” Only one register appeared to be open and about a dozen families with screaming infants and toddlers waited in the one line – a very long, long, long line at that.

With the small reminder that Sesshomaru was the Taisho Sesshomaru – ruthless businessman, future taiyoukai, and once a soldier in his father’s army – he was able to gird his loins and step forward to wait in line. He stepped forward and patiently waited behind a woman with her toddler of a daughter grasping her hand.

When Sesshomaru felt something pulling on his pant leg, he looked down to meet the doe-eyed gaze of the toddler. The girl smiled at him and pulled her arm back to her side. She shyly grabbed the bottom of her yellow dress and began to sway side to side as if in some type of dance.

Sesshomaru merely watched the display with disinterest. At Sesshomaru’s lack of response to her little dance the girl decided to be a little more forward. She yanked the bottom of her dress up over her head, revealing a pair of Power Puff Girls underwear and threw the dress on the ground.

When there was still no reaction from Sesshomaru, she grew angry, stomped on Sesshomaru’s foot, and then ran away from him yelling at the top of her lungs.

The child’s mother finally became aware of the situation and turned to Sesshomaru. “What the hell is the matter with you? You shouldn’t scare a child like that. I pity any child of yours if that’s how you’re going to treat them. It’s wrong for a grown man like you to upset a little girl in such a way. Shame on you.” The woman continued her rant, shoving her finger in Sesshomaru’s face, ignoring her now screaming, naked daughter running in circles around them.

Sesshomaru attempted to remain outwardly calm and restrain himself from lashing out at the woman with the thought of Kagome quitting upon her discovery of his beating of the woman. It would do him no good to bring harm against the mother if it meant that he would lose Kagome.

He practically groaned. The young woman had him wrapped around her finger and she didn’t even know it.

The little girl then stomped on his foot again. “You’re a big meaniehead! Meanihead! Meaniehead! Meaniehead!” The girl took up stomping around Sesshomaru screaming the chant at the top of her lungs. “Meaniehead! Meaniehead! Meaniehead! You’re a meaniehead!”

Sesshomaru wished for nothing more than a bottle of aspirin in that moment. Better yet, a gun. Yeah, a gun sounded pretty tempting. Maybe he could get away with murder if he just shot all of the witnesses. Kagome wouldn’t know any better and then he could get away with not paying for Rin’s items.

No, that wouldn’t work. Kagome had the innate knack of finding out everything. He just had to suck it up and be a man, er, youkai.

“And if you say anything to my little girl again, I’m gonna call the cops. You got that?”

Sesshomaru looked down at the loudmouthed woman before him, having heard nothing of what she previously said. “Wench, if you do not remove your finger from my face, I will break it off.”

Sesshomaru expected the affronted countenance of the woman but what he did not expect was for her to slap him across the face.

“Why you rude, uncivilized man! I’m going to get the manager and make sure that you are banned from this store.”

That’s exactly what he needed now: for his three hours of torture to be all for naught simply because this woman’s child felt the need to strip.

“All I wanted to do was to go home. Was that too much to ask?”

This time, he didn’t hold back the groan.


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A/N: Um, yeah that's it. I'll get on top of the next chapter as soon as possible but I can't make any promises; I've got a Calculus final next week so it's kind of crunch time for me.

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http://moriyo.notifylist.com/okaa_update.html

Thanks for your reviews and words of encouragement.

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-Moriyo