Fire and Rain
folder
InuYasha AU/AR › Het - Male/Female
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
13
Views:
3,175
Reviews:
2
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
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Category:
InuYasha AU/AR › Het - Male/Female
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
13
Views:
3,175
Reviews:
2
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own Inuyasha, nor do I own the characters from the series. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
Heart Between Your Teeth
Thanks to my awesomely angelic beta BashiYami! Also, 4 out of 5 dentists agree that reviewing makes the author less likely to eat marshmallows straight out of the bag after class.
Chapter Seven: Heart Between Your Teeth
(Fuck Was I by Jenny Owens Young)
“Kagome!” Kōga said with a grin, greeting her the very second she stepped through the back door and into the store.
“Hey!” She tried to appear chipper, but she couldn't even fool herself. The fight she had had with Inuyasha a few days ago still weighed on her, and nothing seemed to make it better.
“Here,” her boss said magnanimously, handing her a bouquet of daisies. “I don't like to see you so down, woman. Let me take you out tonight, make you smile.”
She was about to turn him down, but he looked so hopeful, and she was feeling pretty crappy, and he always bought her flowers and obviously cared for her, maybe even loved her.
“A-alright,” she said softly, unable to keep from smiling at the look of complete happiness on his face. “What time?”
“Now!” he blurted. Curiously, his hands were squeezing her smaller ones before the mono-syllable left his mouth.
Kagome laughed uneasily. “We've got work, Kōga. How about seven?”
“Yeah, yeah, seven,” he said with a nod, talking mostly to himself. It seemed as though he had not thought he'd get so far, and now was scrambling for ideas. She wondered if she should reschedule their date, but he had looked so happy, and she didn't want to take that away from him.
A few minutes later, one of the other employees opened the doors, and the customers came trickling in, mostly adults by themselves or mothers with very young children at this time of day. Kōga was typing frantically on his computer instead of greeting the customers as he usually did, and Kagome sighed. She had a bad feeling she might regret the decision before the night was over.
Oo/O
Kōga arrived half an hour early, banging on her door and calling out her name like the oblivious man in love he was. Thankfully, Kagome was already dressed and ready to go, courtesy of Sango who had needed to leave for work fifteen minutes ago but really wanted to dress her up so had forced her to get pretty far earlier than she needed to be. Forced into heels yet again, she just hoped she didn't make a fool out of herself or became irrationally nervous as she had last time. Kagome took a moment to assess herself in the hallway mirror, a habit she did mostly to quash any last-second nerves seeking to rattle her confidence, but she needn’t have bothered. The nerves never came.
“Hi, Kōga!” she greeted. In a way, it was good that he was early. The sooner they left, the sooner the date would be over with and she could go to sleep or something. Now that she thought about it, she never did catch the end of Friends…
“Kagome,” he said intimately, grabbing her hands and making her flinch internally. “You look beautiful.”
“Uh, you too.”
“I've got the best date ever planned. You'll be telling our grandkids about this one,” he grinned, taking her by the hand and leading her outside.
“Cool,” she muttered, noting his black ponytail reached almost mid-back and vaguely remembering much longer black hair.
His car still had that same overpowering air freshener scent, but this time she did not roll down the window. It had been rude of her in the first place to just do something like that without his approval, even if she had been feeling pretty nauseous. The queasiness returned a little, tickling the back of her throat, and she forced herself to think of Christmas, something that always calmed her down when she felt sick, though she didn't know the reason why. Maybe it was because she associated the holiday with cold and snow, even though she had lived her entire life in a Mediterranean climate.
“How was your day?” His tone was considerate, but she was still uneasy. Would she ever be able to be herself around any man but Inuyasha? The sudden thought strengthened her resolve. She had told him she would give Kōga a chance, and she meant it. She would know what it was like to be loved by a man who was able to give all of himself.
“It was good,” she said, wondering why he asked when she had spent most of the day with him. “I missed you after work, though.” Kagome placed her hand innocently on his knee, careful not to let it linger or go too high and give him certain expectations.
“R-really?” he asked, looking back at her for a full few seconds, making her wonder if she should ever touch him while he was driving. “I missed you, too. I miss you all day when you don't work. How about I give you some more hours? Pay included, of course.”
It seemed like her boss was one of those people that ramble when flustered, something they had in common. The quirk made him seem a little more real to her and she smiled. “I'd like that.”
They sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes before he spoke again. “I was thinking we could go to the drive-in, get some popcorn and soda or whatever. I know what people think drive-ins are for, and I just want you to know that I'm not going to try anything, alright? I don't want you to feel at all uncomfortable. It's a weeknight, anyway, and a lot of moms and kids will be there, so don't worry.”
So he had picked up on her previous unease. It had to have been pretty hard to miss, after all. Maybe he wasn't as oblivious as she had thought him to be. She tried to swallow her guilt.
“Thank you, Kōga. You're very considerate. I'm glad I met you.”
“Glad I met you too, babe.”
She flinched at the pet name, and if he noticed, he didn't let on.
Oo/O
When the movie was over, they went bowling. When Kōga won the game, even after obviously trying to let her win, they went to dinner at some dive he said was the best, but which she found to be sub-par. After he finished talking to his aunt and uncle who ran the place and introduced her as his girlfriend, which took well over an hour, it was after midnight and she desperately wanted to go home and pass out. He definitely wasn't lying when he had said it was a date to tell her grandkids about, if she ended up having any. How could she ever forget the most tedious date she'd likely ever be on?
Let's face it, she thought to herself. She wasn't the prettiest girl on the block. She had gotten lucky with Inuyasha, her childhood friend. He liked her because she was comfortable and familiar. Then she'd gotten lucky when Kōga had felt sorry for her. His white knight complex had fooled him into thinking he was attracted to her. Would her luck continue, or would she still be going out man hunting at clubs with Sango when she was in her sixties? The image her brain conjured up at the thought, of her and Sango braless with their sagging breasts stuffed into matching sequined dresses, both of them wearing incredible amounts of mascara and yelling at each other even though there wasn't any music because they had both forgotten their hearing aid, made her heart hurt. The most horrifying part was that Sango would probably have been married several times over by then and she'd still be a virgin, maybe even waiting on Kikyo to succumb to her fibromyalgia so she could swoop in and finally be with Inuyasha. She shuddered. That was not what her life was supposed to be like. She had survived so much for what? Not so she could be with Inuyasha again, but so that she could really live.
The small bell above the door dinged as Kōga held the door for her, and she tried not to visibly shiver when the night air hit her skin. She had a feeling Kōga offering her his jacket would only make her feel worse.
Standing outside of his aunt's restaurant, she realized that she needed to kiss Kōga simply because he liked her and he wasn't Inuyasha.
“I was thinking we could grab some ice cream and then I know this place that does all night miniature golf—“
On the verge of hyperventilating, Kagome grabbed her boss by the collar of his shirt and clumsily kissed him somewhere in the general area of his mouth. Kōga righted the kiss and deepened it, turning it from just smacking their faces together into something real. She didn't bother resisting. She needed this. What took her by surprise was how good it felt. She thought only Inuyasha could make her feel like that, but apparently that wasn't true. Her sometimes awkward, sometimes arrogant, mostly too confident employer had quite the set of skills. Moaning without meaning to, she blushed and pulled away. The kiss had gone on longer than she had intended it to and had stirred some feelings in her that she was simply too tired to examine.
“I love you, Kagome,” he whispered, kissing her cheek tenderly and lacing their fingers together. “I know it's kind of soon, but I'm not the kind of guy who's good at pretending. I love you.”
“I...” she breathed, her heart beating like mad. “I should probably get back home. My roommate is kind of crazy and she doesn't like it when I'm out late.” She almost cringed at how small her voice sounded in her ears.
He simply nodded, for which she was extremely grateful. She didn't think she could handle a long conversation about feelings. Still holding her hand, he walked her back to his car and drove her home in silence. Kagome would have been worried that he was mad at her or embarrassed at confessing his feelings, but he had a goofy smile on his face the entire drive back, so she didn't worry too much.
“Bye, Kōga!” she said, somewhat regretful she had not enjoyed their date more. He had probably spent a lot of money on it. Maybe she should have protested at going from place to place, but he had been so eager that she had not wanted to hurt his feelings. At least the meal was free.
She knew, though, that the only really memorable part of the entire evening was that staggering kiss he had laid on her. Kagome had thought that she was solving a problem, but hell, now she had one more.
Oo/O
It was Halloween, her favorite holiday. Even though she had more hours and therefore more money, she still didn't want to waste some of it on a costume, and she had neither the time nor the skills to make her own. Working at the shop was more fun on the holiday, though. All the little children came in their cute costumes, and she readily passed out candy and talked with them, and every hour on the hour she got to read a story of her choosing to a group of little princesses and witches and knights and ninjas. They were all so cute that she didn't even feel like she was working.
Since costumes were mandatory, she just dug through one of the old boxes Inuyasha had sent over full of her stuff, and she found her old school uniform. It was a little tighter and shorter than it had been before, but nothing too racy. Still, she got more than a few interested looks from bored fathers and a few glares from tired mothers. She felt bad, but it wasn't like she could change.
“How's my woman?” Kōga bellowed, making her stand straight up where previously she had been stocking the shelves. Did he not care what anyone else would think? She just walked into the shop, got a job, got more hours and less training than anyone else, and then he goes and says something like that!
“Uh, I'm doing good. Stocking the shelves. Your costume’s nice. Is that an 80's new wave thing…?” she asked, looking at his weird fur skirt thing, fur vest, fur leg warmers, and headband. She wasn't sure it was appropriate to wear around children. The more she studied it, the weirder it became. Was that a tail in back?
He laughed, his blue eyes sparkling. “This is my traditional wolf garb. I never feel closer to my fellow wolves than when I wear our clothing.”
Kagome laughed nervously. What was he going on about? “Um, are you a furry? Or otherkin or whatever.”
During one of her lessons on the modern world with Sango, she had been shown tumblr, and was both exceptionally puzzled and horrified by everything that went on there.
Kōga just looked at her, baffled. “Huh?”
“Er, nothing,” she muttered. He might be weird, but at least she hadn't frenched a basket case. “I'm going to take the trash out, okay? I'll be back in time to read to the kids.”
“No, Kagome, let me do it,” he said smoothly. “Can't have a beautiful woman do a man's job.”
She was about to allow it, because who wants to smell like garbage when they don't have to, but one of the other employees came rushing in, out of breath.
“Kōga, oh my lord, Kōga, it's terrible!” he cried, his face scrunched up in agony. “Some kid dressed as Han Solo just pissed all over the latest shipment we hadn't gotten around to stocking yet! And I think he shit on your desk. It was either him or Mark.”
Kōga's face paled and he clenched his fists. “Fucking Mark!” he growled, stalking off to the back.
Sighing, Kagome grabbed the giant bag that was mostly disposable paper cups from the free juice they'd been giving out and walked out the back to the dumpster, tossing the deceptively light bag up and over.
“Hey, little girl!”
Kagome looked around and saw a man in a bathrobe beckoning to her.
“Little girl, hey! Uh, I lost my puppy somewhere around here. Like, all my puppies.”
“Oh no!” Kagome gasped. “How many puppies?” She had always loved animals, and the man reminded her a little of her grandfather.
“All of 'em! Can you help me look for them? I've been asking people for hours but none of them will help. My van's just around the corner.”
She was about to make a remark on the state of the world, how bad it must be that no one would help find lost puppies, but then an unexpected appearance was made by the person she least wanted to see at that moment.
“Get fucking lost, you freak!” he yelled, punching the poor, puppy-less man in the face. The man fell to the pavement and his bathrobe split open, exposing his small, shriveled male parts. The man scrambled to his feet and ran away.
“Inuyasha!” Kagome screamed. “What the heck are you doing here and why did you hurt that guy?!”
Inuyasha glared at her, his dark eyes narrowing. Kagome tried not to stare as his hair fell about him, as thick and untamed as she always pictured it. “What the fuck are you doing here, anyway?”
“I'm working,” she hissed, remembering the way he had just left her to walk home after breaking her heart. Somehow it was easier ignoring her ache for him when she was angry.
His eyes widened and he crossed the alley and grabbed her arms. “Holy shit, Kagome, if you needed money, all you had to do was ask. Is it so bad that you had to resort to this? Does Sango know? That bitch probably got you into this.”
“Um, resort to what?”
“Selling yourself!” he scream/whispered, shaking her. “To creepy pervs who want to role play!”
“What's taking so long, Kagome?” Kōga walked out the back door and into the alley. She tried to smile at him and tell him everything was fine, but it was kind of hard with an angry Inuyasha in her face.
“Is this your pimp, huh? Your fucking sugar daddy?!” Inuyasha said, his voice gaining in volume.
“I'm not a prostitute!” she wailed, beyond embarrassed. But Inuyasha wasn't paying attention to her anymore.
“Hey, buddy, let her go. She needs to get back to work,” Kōga said with forced calm, probably convinced that Inuyasha was seriously deranged.
Inuyasha let go of her and rounded on her poor boss, punching him right in the face, harder than he had hit the man who needed to find his puppies.
Kagome screamed, absolutely horrified and wondering if she was still employed. She ran to Kōga, who was sprawled on his back, knocked flat by the blow.
“Just leave, Inuyasha!” Kagome yelled as she tried to rouse her boss, who looked to be catatonic. Her crazed brother-in-law tried to grab her arm but she shook him off.
“No! I'm not leaving without you. I failed you before, but now I'm going to make things right. Don't try to protect this bastard!”
“I'm not a hooker, you goddamn idiot,” she said from between clenched teeth. “It's freaking Halloween and I work at the bookstore! You've visited me before, remember?! Kōga's my boss, well, not anymore,” she grumbled bitterly. She couldn’t believe neither of them had recognized the other. They were both always in the store when she was there, even if they had never interacted.
That brought Kōga back to the land of the living. “You schtill have a job here ash long ash you want, Kaguhmeh,” he slurred. “But dat moron friend of yoursh ish banned.” He pointedly glared at Inuyasha's wedding ring.
Inuyasha stared at her, realization slowly setting in. “Oh shit. Ohhh shit. I thought you were supplementing your income or something. Shit.”
Kagome rolled her eyes. “You aren't a very good stalker.”
“I've been so busy lately. I haven't been looking after you like I should,” he apologized, completely missing the point.
Surprisingly, Kagome found herself feeling actually hurt. He hadn't been following her as much as she'd thought. Was he getting tired of her? The quick, panicked beating of her heart surprised her with its intensity. Without another look at him, she nervously helped Kōga back through the door, apologizing profusely along the way.
“Hey, it's not your fault,” he said softly, his speech back to normal. “Go back and read to the kids, hand out some cupcakes and juice and cookies. I've gotta go find Mark.”
She nodded and did as she was told, thinking about Inuyasha all the while. Kagome read to the children distractedly, longing to hug and tickle and cover them with kisses, but Kōga didn't allow it because he didn't want a lawsuit. They were all just so cute, though! A strong urge to have a child came upon her so swiftly it took her breath away and made her falter in her reading. She was at least five or six years too young for that, she reasoned with herself. Even so, the feeling persisted. She really, really wanted a baby, and like now. A soft smile unknowingly made its way onto her face as she gazed down at the children at her feet, their sweetly captivated expressions enchanting her. She wanted a dozen, and one in every color.
A man sat down among the children as though he were one of them, and when she saw who it was, she agreed. Kagome glared at Inuyasha, whose face was also captivated, and not by the tale of the beautiful pig princess, Pigcess, but by her. She finished reading in a quavering voice, her heart beating so hard she could feel it in every part of her body, and the kids scampered off to their tired, unappreciative parents, almost all of them single, working mothers.
“You're not supposed to be here,” she hissed at him.
Inuyasha smirked and scooted closer to her feet. “I can come in anytime I want. I made some calls and found out Taisho Inc. sponsors this place. We're their main support. I can do whatever the fuck I want.”
Kagome sighed. How was it that he always managed to invade every facet of her life, even unintentionally?
“Just don't push it, Inuyasha. Kōga's a wonderful man and he doesn't need the problems you'd cause.”
“I would have given you a job had you just asked,” he said, looking sad.
“You told me not to work.”
“Well, if you had insisted, I would have done it! Just tell me and I'll fire my secretary.”
“Inuyasha, that's terrible! And I don't have the appropriate experience. It wouldn't be a good investment on your part.”
“You'll learn! I'll teach you.” At her fed up look, he pleaded, “Please, Kagome! You'd make like twice as much or more, and we could see each other every day, an—“
“No! I don't want to be around you anymore. I need to be on my own now.” Inuyasha looked crushed, taken aback, completely wounded, and so many other bad things that he had no right to be when he was married and had hurt her so badly. “Why not get Kikyo be your secretary? Just tell her what you told me. It would solve all your guys' problems.”
Inuyasha grabbed her ankle and squeezed, looking torn between rage and heartbreak. “How many goddamn motherfucking times am I going to have to tell you?! I don't want her! Not for my secretary, not for my wife, not for a single fucking thing. I want you.”
She stood up, afraid they were making a scene, but no one was looking at them. “I don't want you,” she whispered. “I can't!” Kagome closed her eyes against the sight of him, against the pleading amethyst of his eyes, against the tears that came unbidden at seeing the pain she saw in them. Pain she had set there.
He shot to his feet and embraced her. “Don't say that,” he murmured, infuriating and dear in the way he seemed to read her so easily. “You're just confused right now, I get it. Remember our plan?”
“What plan?” she said miserably, her arms around him in spite of everything. “You just talk and talk at me. You don't even wait for an answer.”
Inuyasha released her and caught, enveloped her wavering gaze with his. “Do you really believe that?”
“I don't care who you are, but you can't act like this, much less talk like this in a place with children,” Kōga broke in. Kagome looked at him guiltily, wondering how much he had heard. “Kagome, tell your friend to leave.”
She crossed her arms uncomfortably and said to her shoes, “I'm sorry, Inuyasha, but you have to go. I need to get back to work.”
She glanced up at him and, looking at her with all the betrayal in the world, he stalked off without another word. Kagome felt her stomach clench in response. Inuyasha had just looked so forlorn. Following him to the door, she tried to make it look like she was working by organizing books on the way.
Without facing her, in a low, quiet voice, too muted for the screeching children to hear, he said, “Meet me after work. I'll wait in the alley for you.”
And then he was gone.
Heart still beating rapidly, she looked around for Kōga, not wanting him to catch the other man's words. When he had caught sight of Inuyasha's prominent wedding ring back in the alley, the look in his eyes was surprised, bemused and very disapproving, all directed at her, she knew it. Kagome wanted to meet with Inuyasha, but even though her boss had said she'd always have a job at the store, she didn't want to wear out her welcome, which was a very real possibility when your married ex came to your work and punched out your boss/maybe boyfriend. She decided not to think on his invitation and instead genuinely concentrate on work, reading to the new group of children with a kind of energy that bordered on anger, clipping her words and enunciating them. The kids looked at her with furrowed brows, but as long as there were treats, there would be no complaints.
The rest of the day passed slowly, with her checking her watch every five minutes like it was some sort of OCD tick. Kōga, probably somewhat annoyed by her nervous actions and poor performance, finally sighed in exasperation and, slamming the box of books he had been stocking right to the ground, said, “Just take off, Kagome. Do whatever you want tonight, but God help you.”
Embarrassed yet relieved, she replied, “Thank you so much. For everything.”
She left out the back entrance, right to the alley, her heart pumping much faster than it should have been considering that she had not run very far. It was dark between buildings, with no artificial light and the sun having set just moments ago. Squinting, she tried to force her eyes to adjust. Where was he? He had said he'd wait for her. Was he actually tired of waiting for her to pay attention to him? Kagome suddenly felt very scared, and was very aware of how alone she was, how exposed, how dark the alley was. It had seemed like no big deal when she had thought Inuyasha would be there waiting for her, but he wasn't and now it was. A chill breeze wrapped around her, reminding her of how inappropriate her costume was.
Where was he?
Oo/O
Two hours.
She had waited two hours before she finally admitted to herself that he wasn't coming. Going back inside the store in defeat, she avoided Kōga and called Sango, who was glad to get away from the party she was at. She arrived in under five minutes, sporting a new dent on the back bumper of her car. Her face making it very clear she did not want to talk, Kagome opened the passenger door, surprised to see that her friend wore a very similar expression. Now they had to talk.
“What happened to you?” she muttered in her grumpiest voice.
Sango grunted. “Not one of those fuckers at the party hit on me. And you know what? I was the oldest person there. By like two months, but still. I'm dressed as a dominatrix, for fuck's sake! I would have gone home with anybody! But fuck that now. Now I hate the world.” Kagome eyed her friend uneasily. She did not want another repeat of the “tooth brush” incident. “Anyway,” Sango continued, “What's up with you? Have you been crying?”
Wiping her face discreetly, Kagome responded, “No! Well, maybe. But he just... He wasn't there, Sango.”
“Inuyasha?”
She nodded and a sob escaped. “He said he'd be there and he wasn't. He wasn't! He's tired of me. We're done, I know it.”
“Aw, baby,” Sango cooed sympathetically. “Come on, we need cookie sundaes.”
Their favorite coffee shop that they'd discovered just a month before Kagome's accident still stood in the same place, but looked a little newer with all the renovations they'd done. They got out of the car and held hands, neither of them even remotely caring what anyone else would think, just needing to be close to someone else, the only other person in the world that they were sure of. Fleetingly, Kagome wished she were a lesbian, then thought better of it. Even if she was gay, she wouldn't touch Sango with a ten-foot pole. Maybe a one night thing, or a short fling, but even that was pushing it. The girl tended to get pretty crazy when it came to relationships. Shaking her head and resolving not to think about that ever again, she placed her order for a coffee and a hot fudge chocolate chip cookie sundae, Sango doing the same. They received their orders from a freckle-faced teen that Kagome was trying really hard not to hate, and went to sit down at a table far in the corner.
No sooner than they had sat down than they were approached by a very familiar man not wearing a costume.
“Hello, beautiful,” he said smoothly, directing the greeting at Sango. “My name's Miroku.” He leaned over Sango and brushed her high ponytail out of the way before sticking his fingers down the back of her tight costume. “What's this? Made in heaven, of course.”
Sango elbowed him in the gut. “Step off, bitch!” she yelled at full volume, startling everyone in the shop. Kagome stared along with the other patrons, mortified but understanding.
“How about I take you out for coffee sometime?” he wheezed, a hand on his stomach. Kagome didn’t know whether to be impressed at how casually he took her friend’s abuse or afraid for the life of this obviously brain-addled masochist.
“We're already in a coffee shop,” She muttered.
“I don't like coffee,” Sango said, stuffing about half of her melty dessert into her mouth and washing it down with a sip of her latte.
Kagome rolled her eyes.
“Well, what do you like?” Miroku said smoothly, leaning one hand on their table and keeping the other on his stomach for protection. “It can be anything.” It was when he wiggled his eyebrows that Kagome started to wonder if she should warn him of the doom he was about to bring down on himself.
Sango just glared at him, not as accepting of his antics as she probably would have been had she had a better night. “Pussy, and my friend here is my main supplier.”
Kagome gaped at her. Miroku sputtered and then looked at Kagome for the first time, his eyes widening in recognition.
“You!” Turning back to Sango, he whined, “That's a dude! Come on, just give me one chance!”
The rest of Sango’s patience frayed and snapped in a rush of air as she whirled on him and raised her arm and he flinched back, staring at her mournfully before leaving the place altogether. A four-year old in a Wonder Woman tutu three tables over stared at her like someone just confirmed the Easter Bunny was real. Sango didn't ask Kagome about the strange man's comment, for which Kagome was grateful. The two young women spent the rest of their outing discreetly crying into their sundaes, ignoring the stares and whispers aimed at them.
Chapter Seven: Heart Between Your Teeth
(Fuck Was I by Jenny Owens Young)
“Kagome!” Kōga said with a grin, greeting her the very second she stepped through the back door and into the store.
“Hey!” She tried to appear chipper, but she couldn't even fool herself. The fight she had had with Inuyasha a few days ago still weighed on her, and nothing seemed to make it better.
“Here,” her boss said magnanimously, handing her a bouquet of daisies. “I don't like to see you so down, woman. Let me take you out tonight, make you smile.”
She was about to turn him down, but he looked so hopeful, and she was feeling pretty crappy, and he always bought her flowers and obviously cared for her, maybe even loved her.
“A-alright,” she said softly, unable to keep from smiling at the look of complete happiness on his face. “What time?”
“Now!” he blurted. Curiously, his hands were squeezing her smaller ones before the mono-syllable left his mouth.
Kagome laughed uneasily. “We've got work, Kōga. How about seven?”
“Yeah, yeah, seven,” he said with a nod, talking mostly to himself. It seemed as though he had not thought he'd get so far, and now was scrambling for ideas. She wondered if she should reschedule their date, but he had looked so happy, and she didn't want to take that away from him.
A few minutes later, one of the other employees opened the doors, and the customers came trickling in, mostly adults by themselves or mothers with very young children at this time of day. Kōga was typing frantically on his computer instead of greeting the customers as he usually did, and Kagome sighed. She had a bad feeling she might regret the decision before the night was over.
Oo/O
Kōga arrived half an hour early, banging on her door and calling out her name like the oblivious man in love he was. Thankfully, Kagome was already dressed and ready to go, courtesy of Sango who had needed to leave for work fifteen minutes ago but really wanted to dress her up so had forced her to get pretty far earlier than she needed to be. Forced into heels yet again, she just hoped she didn't make a fool out of herself or became irrationally nervous as she had last time. Kagome took a moment to assess herself in the hallway mirror, a habit she did mostly to quash any last-second nerves seeking to rattle her confidence, but she needn’t have bothered. The nerves never came.
“Hi, Kōga!” she greeted. In a way, it was good that he was early. The sooner they left, the sooner the date would be over with and she could go to sleep or something. Now that she thought about it, she never did catch the end of Friends…
“Kagome,” he said intimately, grabbing her hands and making her flinch internally. “You look beautiful.”
“Uh, you too.”
“I've got the best date ever planned. You'll be telling our grandkids about this one,” he grinned, taking her by the hand and leading her outside.
“Cool,” she muttered, noting his black ponytail reached almost mid-back and vaguely remembering much longer black hair.
His car still had that same overpowering air freshener scent, but this time she did not roll down the window. It had been rude of her in the first place to just do something like that without his approval, even if she had been feeling pretty nauseous. The queasiness returned a little, tickling the back of her throat, and she forced herself to think of Christmas, something that always calmed her down when she felt sick, though she didn't know the reason why. Maybe it was because she associated the holiday with cold and snow, even though she had lived her entire life in a Mediterranean climate.
“How was your day?” His tone was considerate, but she was still uneasy. Would she ever be able to be herself around any man but Inuyasha? The sudden thought strengthened her resolve. She had told him she would give Kōga a chance, and she meant it. She would know what it was like to be loved by a man who was able to give all of himself.
“It was good,” she said, wondering why he asked when she had spent most of the day with him. “I missed you after work, though.” Kagome placed her hand innocently on his knee, careful not to let it linger or go too high and give him certain expectations.
“R-really?” he asked, looking back at her for a full few seconds, making her wonder if she should ever touch him while he was driving. “I missed you, too. I miss you all day when you don't work. How about I give you some more hours? Pay included, of course.”
It seemed like her boss was one of those people that ramble when flustered, something they had in common. The quirk made him seem a little more real to her and she smiled. “I'd like that.”
They sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes before he spoke again. “I was thinking we could go to the drive-in, get some popcorn and soda or whatever. I know what people think drive-ins are for, and I just want you to know that I'm not going to try anything, alright? I don't want you to feel at all uncomfortable. It's a weeknight, anyway, and a lot of moms and kids will be there, so don't worry.”
So he had picked up on her previous unease. It had to have been pretty hard to miss, after all. Maybe he wasn't as oblivious as she had thought him to be. She tried to swallow her guilt.
“Thank you, Kōga. You're very considerate. I'm glad I met you.”
“Glad I met you too, babe.”
She flinched at the pet name, and if he noticed, he didn't let on.
Oo/O
When the movie was over, they went bowling. When Kōga won the game, even after obviously trying to let her win, they went to dinner at some dive he said was the best, but which she found to be sub-par. After he finished talking to his aunt and uncle who ran the place and introduced her as his girlfriend, which took well over an hour, it was after midnight and she desperately wanted to go home and pass out. He definitely wasn't lying when he had said it was a date to tell her grandkids about, if she ended up having any. How could she ever forget the most tedious date she'd likely ever be on?
Let's face it, she thought to herself. She wasn't the prettiest girl on the block. She had gotten lucky with Inuyasha, her childhood friend. He liked her because she was comfortable and familiar. Then she'd gotten lucky when Kōga had felt sorry for her. His white knight complex had fooled him into thinking he was attracted to her. Would her luck continue, or would she still be going out man hunting at clubs with Sango when she was in her sixties? The image her brain conjured up at the thought, of her and Sango braless with their sagging breasts stuffed into matching sequined dresses, both of them wearing incredible amounts of mascara and yelling at each other even though there wasn't any music because they had both forgotten their hearing aid, made her heart hurt. The most horrifying part was that Sango would probably have been married several times over by then and she'd still be a virgin, maybe even waiting on Kikyo to succumb to her fibromyalgia so she could swoop in and finally be with Inuyasha. She shuddered. That was not what her life was supposed to be like. She had survived so much for what? Not so she could be with Inuyasha again, but so that she could really live.
The small bell above the door dinged as Kōga held the door for her, and she tried not to visibly shiver when the night air hit her skin. She had a feeling Kōga offering her his jacket would only make her feel worse.
Standing outside of his aunt's restaurant, she realized that she needed to kiss Kōga simply because he liked her and he wasn't Inuyasha.
“I was thinking we could grab some ice cream and then I know this place that does all night miniature golf—“
On the verge of hyperventilating, Kagome grabbed her boss by the collar of his shirt and clumsily kissed him somewhere in the general area of his mouth. Kōga righted the kiss and deepened it, turning it from just smacking their faces together into something real. She didn't bother resisting. She needed this. What took her by surprise was how good it felt. She thought only Inuyasha could make her feel like that, but apparently that wasn't true. Her sometimes awkward, sometimes arrogant, mostly too confident employer had quite the set of skills. Moaning without meaning to, she blushed and pulled away. The kiss had gone on longer than she had intended it to and had stirred some feelings in her that she was simply too tired to examine.
“I love you, Kagome,” he whispered, kissing her cheek tenderly and lacing their fingers together. “I know it's kind of soon, but I'm not the kind of guy who's good at pretending. I love you.”
“I...” she breathed, her heart beating like mad. “I should probably get back home. My roommate is kind of crazy and she doesn't like it when I'm out late.” She almost cringed at how small her voice sounded in her ears.
He simply nodded, for which she was extremely grateful. She didn't think she could handle a long conversation about feelings. Still holding her hand, he walked her back to his car and drove her home in silence. Kagome would have been worried that he was mad at her or embarrassed at confessing his feelings, but he had a goofy smile on his face the entire drive back, so she didn't worry too much.
“Bye, Kōga!” she said, somewhat regretful she had not enjoyed their date more. He had probably spent a lot of money on it. Maybe she should have protested at going from place to place, but he had been so eager that she had not wanted to hurt his feelings. At least the meal was free.
She knew, though, that the only really memorable part of the entire evening was that staggering kiss he had laid on her. Kagome had thought that she was solving a problem, but hell, now she had one more.
Oo/O
It was Halloween, her favorite holiday. Even though she had more hours and therefore more money, she still didn't want to waste some of it on a costume, and she had neither the time nor the skills to make her own. Working at the shop was more fun on the holiday, though. All the little children came in their cute costumes, and she readily passed out candy and talked with them, and every hour on the hour she got to read a story of her choosing to a group of little princesses and witches and knights and ninjas. They were all so cute that she didn't even feel like she was working.
Since costumes were mandatory, she just dug through one of the old boxes Inuyasha had sent over full of her stuff, and she found her old school uniform. It was a little tighter and shorter than it had been before, but nothing too racy. Still, she got more than a few interested looks from bored fathers and a few glares from tired mothers. She felt bad, but it wasn't like she could change.
“How's my woman?” Kōga bellowed, making her stand straight up where previously she had been stocking the shelves. Did he not care what anyone else would think? She just walked into the shop, got a job, got more hours and less training than anyone else, and then he goes and says something like that!
“Uh, I'm doing good. Stocking the shelves. Your costume’s nice. Is that an 80's new wave thing…?” she asked, looking at his weird fur skirt thing, fur vest, fur leg warmers, and headband. She wasn't sure it was appropriate to wear around children. The more she studied it, the weirder it became. Was that a tail in back?
He laughed, his blue eyes sparkling. “This is my traditional wolf garb. I never feel closer to my fellow wolves than when I wear our clothing.”
Kagome laughed nervously. What was he going on about? “Um, are you a furry? Or otherkin or whatever.”
During one of her lessons on the modern world with Sango, she had been shown tumblr, and was both exceptionally puzzled and horrified by everything that went on there.
Kōga just looked at her, baffled. “Huh?”
“Er, nothing,” she muttered. He might be weird, but at least she hadn't frenched a basket case. “I'm going to take the trash out, okay? I'll be back in time to read to the kids.”
“No, Kagome, let me do it,” he said smoothly. “Can't have a beautiful woman do a man's job.”
She was about to allow it, because who wants to smell like garbage when they don't have to, but one of the other employees came rushing in, out of breath.
“Kōga, oh my lord, Kōga, it's terrible!” he cried, his face scrunched up in agony. “Some kid dressed as Han Solo just pissed all over the latest shipment we hadn't gotten around to stocking yet! And I think he shit on your desk. It was either him or Mark.”
Kōga's face paled and he clenched his fists. “Fucking Mark!” he growled, stalking off to the back.
Sighing, Kagome grabbed the giant bag that was mostly disposable paper cups from the free juice they'd been giving out and walked out the back to the dumpster, tossing the deceptively light bag up and over.
“Hey, little girl!”
Kagome looked around and saw a man in a bathrobe beckoning to her.
“Little girl, hey! Uh, I lost my puppy somewhere around here. Like, all my puppies.”
“Oh no!” Kagome gasped. “How many puppies?” She had always loved animals, and the man reminded her a little of her grandfather.
“All of 'em! Can you help me look for them? I've been asking people for hours but none of them will help. My van's just around the corner.”
She was about to make a remark on the state of the world, how bad it must be that no one would help find lost puppies, but then an unexpected appearance was made by the person she least wanted to see at that moment.
“Get fucking lost, you freak!” he yelled, punching the poor, puppy-less man in the face. The man fell to the pavement and his bathrobe split open, exposing his small, shriveled male parts. The man scrambled to his feet and ran away.
“Inuyasha!” Kagome screamed. “What the heck are you doing here and why did you hurt that guy?!”
Inuyasha glared at her, his dark eyes narrowing. Kagome tried not to stare as his hair fell about him, as thick and untamed as she always pictured it. “What the fuck are you doing here, anyway?”
“I'm working,” she hissed, remembering the way he had just left her to walk home after breaking her heart. Somehow it was easier ignoring her ache for him when she was angry.
His eyes widened and he crossed the alley and grabbed her arms. “Holy shit, Kagome, if you needed money, all you had to do was ask. Is it so bad that you had to resort to this? Does Sango know? That bitch probably got you into this.”
“Um, resort to what?”
“Selling yourself!” he scream/whispered, shaking her. “To creepy pervs who want to role play!”
“What's taking so long, Kagome?” Kōga walked out the back door and into the alley. She tried to smile at him and tell him everything was fine, but it was kind of hard with an angry Inuyasha in her face.
“Is this your pimp, huh? Your fucking sugar daddy?!” Inuyasha said, his voice gaining in volume.
“I'm not a prostitute!” she wailed, beyond embarrassed. But Inuyasha wasn't paying attention to her anymore.
“Hey, buddy, let her go. She needs to get back to work,” Kōga said with forced calm, probably convinced that Inuyasha was seriously deranged.
Inuyasha let go of her and rounded on her poor boss, punching him right in the face, harder than he had hit the man who needed to find his puppies.
Kagome screamed, absolutely horrified and wondering if she was still employed. She ran to Kōga, who was sprawled on his back, knocked flat by the blow.
“Just leave, Inuyasha!” Kagome yelled as she tried to rouse her boss, who looked to be catatonic. Her crazed brother-in-law tried to grab her arm but she shook him off.
“No! I'm not leaving without you. I failed you before, but now I'm going to make things right. Don't try to protect this bastard!”
“I'm not a hooker, you goddamn idiot,” she said from between clenched teeth. “It's freaking Halloween and I work at the bookstore! You've visited me before, remember?! Kōga's my boss, well, not anymore,” she grumbled bitterly. She couldn’t believe neither of them had recognized the other. They were both always in the store when she was there, even if they had never interacted.
That brought Kōga back to the land of the living. “You schtill have a job here ash long ash you want, Kaguhmeh,” he slurred. “But dat moron friend of yoursh ish banned.” He pointedly glared at Inuyasha's wedding ring.
Inuyasha stared at her, realization slowly setting in. “Oh shit. Ohhh shit. I thought you were supplementing your income or something. Shit.”
Kagome rolled her eyes. “You aren't a very good stalker.”
“I've been so busy lately. I haven't been looking after you like I should,” he apologized, completely missing the point.
Surprisingly, Kagome found herself feeling actually hurt. He hadn't been following her as much as she'd thought. Was he getting tired of her? The quick, panicked beating of her heart surprised her with its intensity. Without another look at him, she nervously helped Kōga back through the door, apologizing profusely along the way.
“Hey, it's not your fault,” he said softly, his speech back to normal. “Go back and read to the kids, hand out some cupcakes and juice and cookies. I've gotta go find Mark.”
She nodded and did as she was told, thinking about Inuyasha all the while. Kagome read to the children distractedly, longing to hug and tickle and cover them with kisses, but Kōga didn't allow it because he didn't want a lawsuit. They were all just so cute, though! A strong urge to have a child came upon her so swiftly it took her breath away and made her falter in her reading. She was at least five or six years too young for that, she reasoned with herself. Even so, the feeling persisted. She really, really wanted a baby, and like now. A soft smile unknowingly made its way onto her face as she gazed down at the children at her feet, their sweetly captivated expressions enchanting her. She wanted a dozen, and one in every color.
A man sat down among the children as though he were one of them, and when she saw who it was, she agreed. Kagome glared at Inuyasha, whose face was also captivated, and not by the tale of the beautiful pig princess, Pigcess, but by her. She finished reading in a quavering voice, her heart beating so hard she could feel it in every part of her body, and the kids scampered off to their tired, unappreciative parents, almost all of them single, working mothers.
“You're not supposed to be here,” she hissed at him.
Inuyasha smirked and scooted closer to her feet. “I can come in anytime I want. I made some calls and found out Taisho Inc. sponsors this place. We're their main support. I can do whatever the fuck I want.”
Kagome sighed. How was it that he always managed to invade every facet of her life, even unintentionally?
“Just don't push it, Inuyasha. Kōga's a wonderful man and he doesn't need the problems you'd cause.”
“I would have given you a job had you just asked,” he said, looking sad.
“You told me not to work.”
“Well, if you had insisted, I would have done it! Just tell me and I'll fire my secretary.”
“Inuyasha, that's terrible! And I don't have the appropriate experience. It wouldn't be a good investment on your part.”
“You'll learn! I'll teach you.” At her fed up look, he pleaded, “Please, Kagome! You'd make like twice as much or more, and we could see each other every day, an—“
“No! I don't want to be around you anymore. I need to be on my own now.” Inuyasha looked crushed, taken aback, completely wounded, and so many other bad things that he had no right to be when he was married and had hurt her so badly. “Why not get Kikyo be your secretary? Just tell her what you told me. It would solve all your guys' problems.”
Inuyasha grabbed her ankle and squeezed, looking torn between rage and heartbreak. “How many goddamn motherfucking times am I going to have to tell you?! I don't want her! Not for my secretary, not for my wife, not for a single fucking thing. I want you.”
She stood up, afraid they were making a scene, but no one was looking at them. “I don't want you,” she whispered. “I can't!” Kagome closed her eyes against the sight of him, against the pleading amethyst of his eyes, against the tears that came unbidden at seeing the pain she saw in them. Pain she had set there.
He shot to his feet and embraced her. “Don't say that,” he murmured, infuriating and dear in the way he seemed to read her so easily. “You're just confused right now, I get it. Remember our plan?”
“What plan?” she said miserably, her arms around him in spite of everything. “You just talk and talk at me. You don't even wait for an answer.”
Inuyasha released her and caught, enveloped her wavering gaze with his. “Do you really believe that?”
“I don't care who you are, but you can't act like this, much less talk like this in a place with children,” Kōga broke in. Kagome looked at him guiltily, wondering how much he had heard. “Kagome, tell your friend to leave.”
She crossed her arms uncomfortably and said to her shoes, “I'm sorry, Inuyasha, but you have to go. I need to get back to work.”
She glanced up at him and, looking at her with all the betrayal in the world, he stalked off without another word. Kagome felt her stomach clench in response. Inuyasha had just looked so forlorn. Following him to the door, she tried to make it look like she was working by organizing books on the way.
Without facing her, in a low, quiet voice, too muted for the screeching children to hear, he said, “Meet me after work. I'll wait in the alley for you.”
And then he was gone.
Heart still beating rapidly, she looked around for Kōga, not wanting him to catch the other man's words. When he had caught sight of Inuyasha's prominent wedding ring back in the alley, the look in his eyes was surprised, bemused and very disapproving, all directed at her, she knew it. Kagome wanted to meet with Inuyasha, but even though her boss had said she'd always have a job at the store, she didn't want to wear out her welcome, which was a very real possibility when your married ex came to your work and punched out your boss/maybe boyfriend. She decided not to think on his invitation and instead genuinely concentrate on work, reading to the new group of children with a kind of energy that bordered on anger, clipping her words and enunciating them. The kids looked at her with furrowed brows, but as long as there were treats, there would be no complaints.
The rest of the day passed slowly, with her checking her watch every five minutes like it was some sort of OCD tick. Kōga, probably somewhat annoyed by her nervous actions and poor performance, finally sighed in exasperation and, slamming the box of books he had been stocking right to the ground, said, “Just take off, Kagome. Do whatever you want tonight, but God help you.”
Embarrassed yet relieved, she replied, “Thank you so much. For everything.”
She left out the back entrance, right to the alley, her heart pumping much faster than it should have been considering that she had not run very far. It was dark between buildings, with no artificial light and the sun having set just moments ago. Squinting, she tried to force her eyes to adjust. Where was he? He had said he'd wait for her. Was he actually tired of waiting for her to pay attention to him? Kagome suddenly felt very scared, and was very aware of how alone she was, how exposed, how dark the alley was. It had seemed like no big deal when she had thought Inuyasha would be there waiting for her, but he wasn't and now it was. A chill breeze wrapped around her, reminding her of how inappropriate her costume was.
Where was he?
Oo/O
Two hours.
She had waited two hours before she finally admitted to herself that he wasn't coming. Going back inside the store in defeat, she avoided Kōga and called Sango, who was glad to get away from the party she was at. She arrived in under five minutes, sporting a new dent on the back bumper of her car. Her face making it very clear she did not want to talk, Kagome opened the passenger door, surprised to see that her friend wore a very similar expression. Now they had to talk.
“What happened to you?” she muttered in her grumpiest voice.
Sango grunted. “Not one of those fuckers at the party hit on me. And you know what? I was the oldest person there. By like two months, but still. I'm dressed as a dominatrix, for fuck's sake! I would have gone home with anybody! But fuck that now. Now I hate the world.” Kagome eyed her friend uneasily. She did not want another repeat of the “tooth brush” incident. “Anyway,” Sango continued, “What's up with you? Have you been crying?”
Wiping her face discreetly, Kagome responded, “No! Well, maybe. But he just... He wasn't there, Sango.”
“Inuyasha?”
She nodded and a sob escaped. “He said he'd be there and he wasn't. He wasn't! He's tired of me. We're done, I know it.”
“Aw, baby,” Sango cooed sympathetically. “Come on, we need cookie sundaes.”
Their favorite coffee shop that they'd discovered just a month before Kagome's accident still stood in the same place, but looked a little newer with all the renovations they'd done. They got out of the car and held hands, neither of them even remotely caring what anyone else would think, just needing to be close to someone else, the only other person in the world that they were sure of. Fleetingly, Kagome wished she were a lesbian, then thought better of it. Even if she was gay, she wouldn't touch Sango with a ten-foot pole. Maybe a one night thing, or a short fling, but even that was pushing it. The girl tended to get pretty crazy when it came to relationships. Shaking her head and resolving not to think about that ever again, she placed her order for a coffee and a hot fudge chocolate chip cookie sundae, Sango doing the same. They received their orders from a freckle-faced teen that Kagome was trying really hard not to hate, and went to sit down at a table far in the corner.
No sooner than they had sat down than they were approached by a very familiar man not wearing a costume.
“Hello, beautiful,” he said smoothly, directing the greeting at Sango. “My name's Miroku.” He leaned over Sango and brushed her high ponytail out of the way before sticking his fingers down the back of her tight costume. “What's this? Made in heaven, of course.”
Sango elbowed him in the gut. “Step off, bitch!” she yelled at full volume, startling everyone in the shop. Kagome stared along with the other patrons, mortified but understanding.
“How about I take you out for coffee sometime?” he wheezed, a hand on his stomach. Kagome didn’t know whether to be impressed at how casually he took her friend’s abuse or afraid for the life of this obviously brain-addled masochist.
“We're already in a coffee shop,” She muttered.
“I don't like coffee,” Sango said, stuffing about half of her melty dessert into her mouth and washing it down with a sip of her latte.
Kagome rolled her eyes.
“Well, what do you like?” Miroku said smoothly, leaning one hand on their table and keeping the other on his stomach for protection. “It can be anything.” It was when he wiggled his eyebrows that Kagome started to wonder if she should warn him of the doom he was about to bring down on himself.
Sango just glared at him, not as accepting of his antics as she probably would have been had she had a better night. “Pussy, and my friend here is my main supplier.”
Kagome gaped at her. Miroku sputtered and then looked at Kagome for the first time, his eyes widening in recognition.
“You!” Turning back to Sango, he whined, “That's a dude! Come on, just give me one chance!”
The rest of Sango’s patience frayed and snapped in a rush of air as she whirled on him and raised her arm and he flinched back, staring at her mournfully before leaving the place altogether. A four-year old in a Wonder Woman tutu three tables over stared at her like someone just confirmed the Easter Bunny was real. Sango didn't ask Kagome about the strange man's comment, for which Kagome was grateful. The two young women spent the rest of their outing discreetly crying into their sundaes, ignoring the stares and whispers aimed at them.