InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Cereal Box Romance ❯ Old Friend... ( Chapter 11 )

Edited by: thyme_cat. Everyone give special thanks to my wonderful beta!

Disclaimer: I do not own any character created by Rumiko Takashi.

 

Chapter 11 - Old Friend…

 

The thunder of adolescent male feet on wooden stairs woke Kagome out of a self-indulgent wallow in pity, just in time to scoot to the side of the step that had become her seat and narrowly miss being trampled by Souta and their younger cousin, Sho, on their way to the arcade. With arms and legs splayed, Sho leapt the last couple of steps to land loudly on the pavement, shouting a battle cry of triumph. Souta hooted in admiration, pumping his fist in the air, but instead of continuing down the steps, turned to his gloomy sister.

 

“You sure you don't want to go shoot aliens with us, Sis?” he asked, his voice cracking between the high tones of childhood to a smooth baritone. His clear brown eyes were alight with concern under an unruly mop of brown hair, and it seemed to Kagome that as she watched, the boyish softness of his features was slimming into the lean lines of manhood.

 

`Four years…and he's growing so fast,' Kagome sighed and shook her head no, plopping her chin in her hands. “No, you guys go have fun.”

 

“You've been sitting on these steps for two weeks,” he pointed out. “Summer ends in less than a month; you gonna sit here until the semester starts?”

 

Kagome stared up at him sadly and her forlorn expression tore at his heart. Ever since the well had been destroyed in the explosion, taking some of the shrine with it, Kagome had been a morose shadow of her former self. Souta suspected that Kagome blamed herself for the fire: she admitted to being up and seeing someone, but the boy saw no way that she could have prevented it.

 

As the man of the house, the tower of strength on which his family would lean, Souta had shoved his sorrow for the loss of his dog-brother deep into the darkest recesses of his heart. He'd ceased to idolize the guy after a couple of years of watching him break his sister's heart, but he loved the gruff hanyou despite his flaws. He missed Inuyasha desperately, but he wouldn't show it to Kagome. He had to be strong and pull her out of the funk into which she'd fallen. He could pretend that everything was all right to everyone else and grieve in private.

 

“Would Inuyasha have wanted you to sulk away your summer?” Souta asked quietly in an attempt to pull her out of her melancholy. `Oops,' he thought when her eyes filled with tears and she turned her head to the side, blinking rapidly. “I'm sorry, Sis. Forget I said anything.”

 

Sniffling and wiping at her eyes, Kagome heaved a shuddering sigh. “No, you're right. He'd want…”

 

`…me on my back,' she finished silently, but even that stark truth couldn't pierce her melancholy. It hurt too much to talk about him in the past tense…as if he were dead. She felt raw inside, grated down to exposed nerve endings that fired pain endlessly to her brain. Sango, Miroku, Shippo, Inuyasha…Sesshomaru: the beings that touched her life in so many indefinable ways, randomly ripped from her grasp by an unknown assailant. She had always known that the well could close any day and that she would have to pick up the frayed ends of her “normal” life in the present. Why did it have to be now? Why couldn't she have been strong enough to confront the attackers and beat them back?

 

For days, she had done nothing but cry on the spare futon in her Aunt's guest bedroom. The shrine had been left uninhabitable by the explosion and subsequent fires that utterly demolished the well house. Her mother's eldest sister had taken them in, just as she had after her father's death, and had thankfully left her alone. Her mother had tried to comfort her, reminding her that her friends would always be with her as long she held them in her heart, but the sentiment had seemed hollow, somehow. Summoning her best fake smile, Kagome had assured her mother that she would be fine; she just needed some time alone to sort through things. As understanding as always, her mother had smiled and nodded, leaving her be with a soft kiss to her forehead.

 

She just didn't have words to explain how much her lost friends meant to her and had no idea what place Sesshomaru now occupied in her heart. Even Akago and her caustic remarks would have been welcome, if only because it meant that her second family were not out of reach, after all.

 

“Quit your bellyaching, you demon's bitch, and go out and do something useful,” she could hear Akago say before stomping off in disgust. `I've never felt more useless,' Kagome moped and plucked at the hem of her skirt.

 

Souta snapped his fingers, a hopeful light shining behind his eyes. “You know what? Auntie said that the 12 Bus that stops right down the street goes all the way to the coast. Maybe you should go? For a change of scenery?” He nudged his sister in the ribs and gave her a broad wink. “Scenery, get it?”

 

Kagome looked at him blankly.

 

“Hunky guys in swim trunks, like on the covers of those books you read?”

 

“Souta!” Kagome protested, swatting at his shoulder but missing when he jumped away.

 

Grinning, finally getting a rise out of his sister, he took another jab. Tapping his finger on his chin and looking playfully thoughtful, he said, “You know, I checked those books where the pages were most worn `cause I thought they'd be the best parts…”

 

“Souta…” Kagome growled as she flushed beet red, her dark eyes sparkling with embarrassment and anger. How dare he paw through her romance novels! She didn't sneak peeks at his hentai manga collection! Well, other than the first time when she “accidentally” found it stuffed between his mattresses…and the time she had decided to check on it, just to make sure it was still there, for blackmail purposes, of course…and the time she'd wanted to find out if Hitomi and her vampire lover had moved from oral sex to…

 

Souta gave himself a mental pat on the back: she looked pissed…and guilty. “But when I read the sections…” he shuddered theatrically. “Really, Kagome. `He thrust his purple-headed warrior into her quivering mound of-`?”

 

“Ow!” he howled and leapt out of slapping range, racing down the steps from the fire-breathing dragon that his sister had become. Landing heavily next to the hysterically laughing Sho, Souta shouted, “Run!” and took off in a dead heat. After a quick glance at Kagome, Sho's dark eyes widened and he sprinted after Souta, still snickering. Taller than Souta by several inches, seemingly all legs and arms, he quickly caught up to his cousin.

 

“Holy shit, she's scary!” Sho panted to Souta as he ran past him.

 

Souta nodded, grinning manically. “Go to the beach!” he yelled over his shoulder at his fuming sister, who stood on the sidewalk glaring at them, her fists balled in impotent fury. The boys cornered sharply, and finally the baleful glare was off their backs.

 

As she watched them disappear around a corner, her anger washed out of her, leaving her feeling alive and tingly. “Maybe I will,” she said out loud, and for the first time in two weeks, a wide, true smile stretched her lips. The idea of a little ocean air, coupled with the rush of adrenaline, was stirring the sluggish blood in her veins. Oh, she still felt like yesterday's road kill left to rot at the side of the road, but now she was road kill with a goal. `That didn't make any sense,' Kagome chastised herself with a tiny, mocking smile and pushed to her feet. `Big deal.'

 

She had a tote to pack.

 

XxxxxxxX

 

“Kagome! Is that you?”

 

Suddenly, the fresh, salty, fishy air turned sour and Kagome rolled her eyes at the horizon where water met sky. Up until that very moment, she had almost been enjoying herself, wandering up the beach while the waves lapped and sucked at her feet, picking up broken bits of shell and tossing them into the frothy water. The crisp spray that dampened her skirt and kissed her face had begun to clear the cobwebs of grief from her mind; only temporarily, perhaps, but she had needed the reprieve.

 

“Oi, Kagome, wait up!” the male voice shouted again from behind her, hauntingly familiar.

 

He was probably an old schoolmate and wanted to catch up. The way her luck had been running, it was probably Hojo and he had some ointment he wanted to give her. `Is that a tube of Ben-Gay in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?' she quipped to herself as she quickened her steps, lowering her head against the wind.

 

“Kagome!” he protested, now directly behind her, just before laying a large hand on her shoulder.

 

Sighing heavily, forced into this reunion that she didn't want, she turned to the man who was determined to spoil her afternoon…and stopped dead. The world went out of focus for a short moment as her brain threw a cog and rumbled to a shuddering halt. “K-kouga?”

 

“In the flesh! Why didn't you stop? Hey, you okay?” he asked, catching her elbow in one rough, calloused hand, then slipping his arm around her waist to guide her to his lounge chair and umbrella. Kagome followed obediently, too shocked to do anything more than put one foot in front of the other. After sitting her in his chair, he squatted in front of her, brushing her bangs away from her forehead and peering into her pale face.

 

“Kouga?!” she repeated, blinking back tears as she stared into his bright blue eyes. With each sweep of her eyelids, she expected his handsome face to blur into a cruel mirage. He grinned roguishly, the points of his fangs hidden carefully behind his lips, but it was the same smile he'd always given her. His dark hair was long and loose, buffeted by the wind and doing nothing to hide his elven ears. As she watched, the points of his ears wavered, almost disappearing, and then become solid once again. Magic. Demons. In her time!

 

With an inarticulate cry, she flung her arms around his neck and squeezed as if he'd evaporate like morning mist. Hesitantly at first, he embraced her, and when she made no move to let go, hugged her back just as fiercely.

 

Laughing through her tears, she planted a wet, noisy kiss on his cheek, and then buried her face in the crook of his neck. An onerous weight had been lifted from her heart, its true burden never fully realized until it was gone. She could've dance with joy, sung at the top of her lungs, spun in circles until she fell to the ground, but instead, she held her dear friend close and watered his neck.

 

Kouga patted her back, loving every minute he got to spend holding the dear girl against his chest. Shushing her like a cub, he inhaled the sweet, clean fragrance of her hair and smiled dreamily. Faded memories of an age long forgotten began to bubble through his mind: uncertain and tragic times at best, but this scent, this girl had made them bearable. “Don't cry, Kagome. I'm here. Don't cry,” he whispered against her hair until her sobs slowed to hiccups, then to sniffles, and finally to a slow, shuddering sigh.

 

Pulling away, Kagome wiped at her face and started to apologize, “Sorry I'm such a crybaby-“

 

“What are friends for, eh?” He handed her a tall glass with the remnants of a watered down drink swirling at the bottom. “Here, have a sip and I'll order another round.” Gratefully drinking it down while Kouga flagged the waiter, Kagome tried to organize the multitude of questions that were beating around in her head. If Kouga were alive, that meant that Inuyasha, Shippo and Sesshomaru could still be around, too! She hadn't lost all of her family! Although Sango and Miroku were surely…

 

`No, I won't think of that right now. I'll concentrate on the good.' To her surprise, a startlingly blue drink had appeared by her elbow, a matching concoction in Kouga's hand, and she picked it up, giving it a quick sniff. Kouga grinned and clicked the bottom of his glass against hers, so she smiled back and took a long drink. It was sweet, tangy and delightfully cold, and before she knew it, half of it was gone. If there was alcohol in it, she didn't taste it.

 

The centuries had been good to Kouga, she decided. His face was still as youthful as she remembered; he had a deep tan…and no shirt. She couldn't help but notice that his chest was beautifully sculpted and completely hairless except for a dark line that stretched from his navel to the waistband of his shorts, worn low on his hips. Catching herself eyeing the fly, she blushed deeply. `You're checking out Kouga, Kagome. He's a friend.'

 

`A hot friend,' her mind supplied unnecessarily and she realized that she was still staring at his fly.

 

“Is Ayame here?” she asked as she met his eyes again, hoping that she wasn't. She selfishly wanted Kouga to herself. At the flash of old pain behind his blue eyes, she winced, feeling like an insensitive twit. “Oh, Kouga, I didn't-“

 

“Don't worry about it,” he reassured her quickly. “It was a long time ago.” His gaze became unfocused, distant, so unlike the Kouga she had known that the tears began to well behind her eyes again. Like the snap of a rubber band, his attention was once again centered on her, his signature grin lighting up his face. “Besides, you'll always be my woman.”

 

Kagome blushed and took another long sip of her drink. It was good to know that some things never changed.

 

“Have you had dinner yet?” Kouga changed the subject and Kagome shot him a grateful smile, shaking her head no. He grabbed his shirt from the back of the chair and stood, holding out his hand to her. “Come on, I know of a great little place right on the sand with the best seafood you've ever tasted!”

 

XxxxxxxX

 

Sesshomaru fingered a small, wooden box at the corner of his desk, running his fingers over the uneven grain of the wood before undoing a small brass latch and flipping open the lid. The box was not beautiful, the wood gray, rough and worn despite the best efforts of his woodworkers. Even after hours under sandpaper, it sometimes reminded its handler of its origins with a sliver of wood buried in his palm. Ugly and ornery or not, the box, carved from the wood of an old well, was one of his favorite possessions because of what it preserved inside: a pair of pink satin panties.

 

He stared at them fondly, running a clawed finger over the fabric and inhaling the delicate fragrance that wafted up to his nose. He didn't know how, but the old wood stolen from the well had managed to preserve a whisper of the scent of the panties' owner, the only woman he'd pursued but never bedded; the one that got away. Why she'd never come back and why he'd let her go in the first place were questions that had nibbled on the edge of his consciousness for the last five hundred years like a teething pup.

 

It had been the novel that he'd spotted first, sitting quietly on an airport newsstand, sandwiched between two other romances with hulking, underdressed men holding fainting women on the cover. He must have looked comical as he'd done a double take, but Sesshomaru hadn't cared in the slightest. There had been no doubts in his mind: it was Kagome's book, or a copy thereof. A wicked smile had tugged at the corner of his lips as he realized just what, exactly, his little miko had like to read. Naughty girl.

 

That was when he'd dug the box out of storage and found that after a century of neglect, the panties still smelled faintly of Kagome.

 

A wire of excitement had wound through his gut as he'd scoured the city for his elusive little vixen. Unfortunately, he had been armed only with her first name and after the drastic remapping of the land as the city had grown, he had had no idea where the old well now stood. Asking Inuyasha for help was out of the question: he'd never told the hanyou of his suspicions regarding Kagome's origins and he had no intention of reminding him that Kagome may be back. Besides, how difficult could it be to find one human girl? Very, very difficult.

 

The Hello Kittyâ„¢ beach towel had been his next big find, displayed proudly in a web banner advertisement last year. Once again, he'd combed the city for a sign of her and had come up empty handed. He needed a plan, he'd decided, that brought the woman to him.

 

Brilliance had struck him while he was driving and he had seen it. Larger than life, it was plastered on a billboard next to the freeway, sitting on the finger of a boy grinning over a bowl of breakfast cereal that just happened to be produced by his newest business acquisition. It was an ugly yellow plastic ring with a flat disc at the top, embossed with the kanji for rabbit. He knew that ring. Kagome had had two of those rings. He owned those rings.

 

A quick phone call had revealed that the Demon Decoder Rings, as Marketing called them, were due to be released in a week in the Happy Fruit, Golden Puffs and Chocolate Balls cereal lines. Another quick phone call, and he'd directed a kitsune employee to enchant the rings to broadcast the presence of a strong miko, to be picked up by a receiver that the kitsune delivered to him posthaste.

 

Weeks had passed before the receiver, a multicolored plastic sphere, began to pulse, signifying that a powerful miko possessed one of the rings. Four times, he'd chased through the city, letting the receiver guide him to a quiet part of Tokyo with ever-increasing pulses, and four times, the receiver had stilled before he'd reached his target. The last time had occurred two weeks ago and he was sure that he'd almost found her when the receiver went dead. Unfortunately, a fire at a local shrine had clogged the air with ash and soot to the point that his nose had closed up and he'd gone home, though not in defeat. It was merely a…respite to…marshal his forces…damn it all.

 

Sesshomaru toyed with the delicate, intimate garment, letting the satin slide over the fingers of his left hand and coat his skin with her scent, skin that had never had the chance to touch her heated flesh. It might have seemed like a lot of trouble and expense to go through for one human woman, especially when there were so many other human women out there. If anyone had asked, which no one did if they valued their limbs, he would have told them that this Sesshomaru Did Not Lose. He would win this ridiculous five hundred year old bet, even if he had to search the city on foot with his nose to the ground. Not that it would come to that…he hoped.

 

Only to himself would he admit that he had enjoyed the challenge that she'd presented. It had left a mark on his ageless spirit that no amount of time or females could erase. Not even to himself would he admit that her disappearance had hurt, that the spark of growing affection between them had never been extinguished, and that his desire to find her again was anything more than wrapping up old business.

 

The squawk of his desk intercom startled him out of his reverie and he cursed under his breath, pushing the button to answer, “Yes, Hakaru.”

 

“Your brother is here to see you, sir,” the prim, nasally voice informed him.

 

Sesshomaru eyes narrowed as he pushed the button again. “Tell him I'm not in today.”

 

“The fuck you aren't,” his half-brother's voice overrode that of his secretary, and Sesshomaru had just enough time to close and latch the little box before his office door slammed open.

 

Inuyasha's eyes immediately widened as he took a long sniff of the office, his ears twitching atop his head. Sesshomaru waited for the outburst impassively, swearing long and silently as he watched the hanyou glance furtively around the room. Of all the days for the hanyou to drop by, he had to pick one of the few when he'd opened the box. He could almost see the wheels turning in Inuyasha's brain.

 

“Do I smell…?” Inuyasha trailed off as he flared his nostrils and narrowed his eyes. Glancing surreptitiously (or so the half-breed liked to think, Sesshomaru mused uncharitably) around the office, he finally locked his golden eyes on his brother with an irritated, guarded glare.

 

“Terribly,” Sesshomaru stated, purposefully misunderstanding him. “But I doubt you came here to discuss your hanyou stench.”

 

`She liked to bathe,' the thought floated unbidden to the top of his mind, along with a vivid image of her in a bikini, her skin glistening with tiny beads of water. He swallowed a sigh, banishing the vision regretfully as Inuyasha's face scrunched into a scowl, poorly disguising the flash of relief that passed over his eyes.

 

“You know what your problem is, jerkoff? You think your shit don't stink.” Inuyasha whipped off his baseball cap and threw it on Sesshomaru's uncluttered mahogany desk, giving his ears a hearty shake. “It's gonna bite you in the ass, someday.”

 

“Your wisdom never ceases to amaze,” the taiyoukai remarked sarcastically, flicking the cap onto the floor with a claw.

 

“Whatever,” he said, stomping over to the entertainment unit situated to the right of Sesshomaru's desk. “Take a look at this shit.” He brandished a mini DVD before popping it into the player. The LCD panel hummed to life and the hanyou turned his back to it, leaning against the cabinet with a grimace.

 

Fast, heavy music pumped from the speakers as a busty bleach blonde wearing a few strips of sequins pouted at the camera then began to grind against a pole that extended from a narrow, raised stage to the ceiling. Lifting one stilettoed foot above her head she ran her tongue along her shin and blew a kiss from her hand.

 

“Very interesting, Inuyasha, but I hardly have time for-“

 

The hanyou turned to glare at the screen, and then cursed. “Damnit, that ain't it. But she's my newest girl: she's human, but she can bend like hose and suck a golf ball through one!” He grinned, showing fang, and waggled his eyebrows at his brother. Unimpressed, Sesshomaru simply stared at him impassively, waiting for the intrusive pup to get down to business. Pressing the forward button on the DVD player, he continued, “I paired her up with Bunny - you know, the one that dances with her ears and tail showing?” He paused when the jerking, flashing frames finally showed what he wanted.

 

Sesshomaru knew Bunny well: a rabbit hanyou (hence the name) who had tried to show him her specialty on numerous occasions. At any other period in his life, he would have been more than happy to acquiesce, but since he'd realized that Kagome's time was at hand, he had been…distracted. He had Kagome on the brain and it just wouldn't do to shout one woman's name in bed while bedding another, even if the one he'd be fucking belonged to Inuyasha's harem.

 

Inuyasha had more of the old dog in him than Sesshomaru had ever expected. The shy, sexually frustrated boy had blossomed into a lusty, unabashed man-whore who collected women like some men collected motorcycles. He took in strays and hard-luck cases of all sorts, cleaned them up, sheltered them, and bedded the willing ones, sometimes several at a time.

 

Some of the girls moved on once they were back on their feet, not preferring the swinging sort of lifestyle. However, many of his girls lived with him, worked his clubs, and sampled other men at their whims. Sesshomaru had even heard rumors that a few of the kinky ones brought their men to special rooms in the clubs where Inuyasha would watch. He didn't have a taste for that himself, so had never inquired about it, but Sesshomaru wouldn't put it past the perverted half-breed.

 

“Oi, here it is,” Inuyasha pushed play and resumed his lean against the television cabinet. An oily woman with sharp, narrow eyes and too many teeth smiled as she held up a small pot of cream. She wore a white belted dress that resembled a lab coat and entirely too much makeup. The picture flashed to the profile of a fifty-ish woman, her face worn and wrinkled, then to the other side of her profile. The heavy creases and dark circles under her eyes were gone, her skin smooth and flawless. Again, the strange woman filled the screen, flourishing the product to an off-camera audience.

 

Inuyasha pushed pause and crossed his arms over his chest with a triumphant grin. “Well?”

 

“You think I need wrinkle cream?” Sesshomaru drawled as he raised a perfect eyebrow, just to annoy him.

 

“No, dumbshit! It's her!”

 

“Though always questionable, your taste has declined in your old age,” Sesshomaru stated, ignoring the insult out of habit. The woman's face did look familiar, but he couldn't quite place it. He hadn't laid her, that's for sure.

 

Snorting in disgust, Inuyasha rolled his eyes. “Her! That snake bitch! The one that attacked Sango's village! The one that had her scaly fingers in the Meiji Restoration. The one that makes the goop youkai use to cover their features. The one that's been after your cock for two centuries, fuck knows why.” Inuyasha paused for a breath and stuffed his hands in the pockets of his jeans, scowling at his brother's apathetic visage.

 

“Jealous, half-breed?”

 

“Shut your pie-hole,” Inuyasha snapped automatically. “She hasn't shown her ugly face like this in decades. Something's up.”

 

“And how is this my concern?”

 

“You are such a fucking bastard, you know that?”

 

“I am sure you've mentioned it,” Sesshomaru replied, smothering a superior smirk. Sakishima Suzio may be a minor thorn in the side of the Cardinal Lords, and had been since she'd reared her scaly head, but she was a lesser youkai and therefore of little consequence. It had almost been entertaining to watch the half-breed chase her through the centuries, only to have her wiggle out of his grasp at the last minute. Somehow, she had always been able to recruit the aid of humans, often aiding them in their quest for power in return. However, she had never challenged the power of the Cardinal Lords, so he left her to her games. Anyone who managed to piss off his brother for five hundred years couldn't be all bad.

 

Not to mention the fact that she alone knew the formula of the product most youkai and hanyou used to blend in with humanity. She had developed it, she produced it, and no one had succeeded in prying the secret from her cold-blooded fingers, though not for lack of trying. However, he had more interesting women to occupy his mind. What did he care if she decided to peddle her wares to humans and star in her own commercials?

 

The corner of his mouth twitched, his golden eyes alight with machinations. If the hanyou thought he was a bastard now, what would he think when Sesshomaru tracked down and snatched up Kagome? Whatever it was, it promised to be amusing.

 

Inuyasha's scowl darkened with suspicion and his ears pinned against his head momentarily. Jutting his chin out truculently, he stabbed a clawed finger at this half-brother. “Sakishima ain't the only one up to something,” he growled.

 

“Indeed,” Sesshomaru purred, not bothering to suppress the smirk. `Let him squirm. He hasn't a clue. As a birthday surprise, I'll escort the little miko to one of his voyeur rooms so that he can watch me deflower her.' A glow of self-satisfaction, one that he hadn't realized that he'd missed, warmed his stomach. Truth be told, it wasn't the expression on his brother's face that he was imagining: it was that of the miko, contorted and flushed with passion.