InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Marriage of Convenience for Whom? ❯ Rendezvous ( Chapter 11 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. Inuyasha is the property of Rumiko Takahashi and Viz Productions.

 

A/N: Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed and read Chapter 10! Getting all that fed back was extremely helpful in motivating me to write this chapter so fast. Granted, I did slack off on schoolwork, but I'm so ready to graduate its not even funny. I hope you enjoy this installment just as much as the last.

 

Chapter 11

 

Kagome thought she had died. That had to be it because there was no way Inuyasha—her hanyou—could be sitting across from her in the back seat of this dingy cab. Fate just did not allow such coincidences.

 

She was so surprised to she Inuyasha sitting there that she forgot to breathe. It took her a moment to regain herself, and by that time he had already closed in her, pulling her close as he nuzzled his nose to her neck.

 

At that moment, Kagome's mind decided to register where she was, whom she was with, and what he was doing. Quickly, she pushed against the hanyou's chest and squirmed out of his embrace to back up against the door.

 

“What are you doing?” She managed out, her face blushing. Has every man in this city with the name Inuyasha lost his goddamn mind today?!

 

Inuyasha looked worried for a moment, and then collected himself. Carefully he brushed a lock of hair behind her ear. “I wanted to see you, and I know I was a jerk the last time we were together. I've been thinking about you since I got that message on my answering machine….” He trailed off to look at her with a concerned expression.

 

“I—about that,” Kagome began, “I was just having a rough night, but I'm ok now,” she forced a smile. Her mind was working over time, trying to figure out what he was doing there. How had he even found her? Why did he want to see her? Quickly she changed the subject. “Um, do you always ride around in taxis like this? Waiting to pick up girls you said you didn't want to see again?” Kagome asked shyly, looking at the gum-covered floor of the cab as to avoid Inuayasha's gaze.

 

“Kagome, I've already said I was being an ass, and I hope you haven't completely written me off.” Inuyasha let out a heavy sigh when she continued to nervously look away. “I really want to make it up to you.”

 

“So what does that mean?” Kagome looked up, feeling a little braver at the hopeful note in his voice.

 

“I want to see you again.”

 

Looking away quickly, Kagome bit her lip. She had so much to do before the wedding that was only a few days away. So many formalities, photo ops, and parties, and then at the end of it all she would be married. To Inuyasha, but not the one she wanted to be married to—not that she really wanted to be married to anyone. Feeling a deep sadness welling up in her, she looked out the window to distract herself. When did my life get so complicated?

 

Inuyasha watched the myriad of expressions crossing Kagome's face. She mostly looked worried and sad. Maybe she does like that other guy…or some other guy. Had he been right that Kikyou had been slumming and was involved with someone else that was not him—human or hanyou?

 

“Unless you don't want to see me again,” he said carefully, not wanting to scare her away.

 

Kagome looked back over at him, feeling at least a little more composed. “It's not that, its just I have a lot going on at the moment. I really do want to see you again,” she stopped for a moment, running through the list of events for the next week. There was no hope of skipping any one of them, but maybe she could break away early.

 

No, the other Inuyasha would be there to stop her. The two of them had to be lashed together tighter than a three-legged race team when they went to the Hollywood parties.

 

Suddenly, something struck her: tomorrow night was “Kikyou's” bachelorette party—Inuyasha wouldn't be allowed too attend. Perfect.

 

“How about tomorrow night?”

 

Inuyasha's face spread into a grin, grateful she wasn't completely blowing him off. “Tomorrow's great for me.”

 

“I'm glad,” Kagome smiled genuinely for the first time in a long while. “Here,” she pulled out an old receipt from her purse and scribbled the address of the club where the party was going to be. “Pick me up here at ten,” she smiled at him as she handed him the paper.

 

“I'll see you then, Kagome,” Inuyasha smiled. Kagome grinned back, but something about the way he said her name bothered her—it sounded so familiar. Of course it sounds familiar, you've been talking to guy for like half an hour.

 

No, it was something else.

 

The cab jerked to a halt and Kagome recognized they were at the address she had given the driver.

 

“You live here?” Inuyasha asked looking around though the cab's windows at all the ritzy houses with their perfectly manicured lawns.

 

“Um…yeah, stunt doubling is a lucrative business you know,” Kagome mumbled as she rushed to get out of the cab before he asked any more questions.

 

She wondered if she was supposed to pay her cab fare, but Inuyasha waved her down. “Tomorrow night?” He asked with a charming smirk as he gazed at her from the rolled-down cab window. His bright golden eyes shown with a light Kagome could not pinpoint and she was sure she had never had that emotion projected her way before.

 

Blushing, she waved shyly as the cab pulled away and made it down the road and out of sight.

 

XXXXXXXX

 

The cab slowly and quietly rolled about a block behind the girl. It stopped completely when she turned off the sidewalk and strolled up to a house, nodding to the security guards as she stepped onto the porch and then she vanished inside the mansion completely.

 

“Did you see that?!” Inuyasha punched Miroku's shoulder in excitement. From his place in the driver's seat Miroku rolled his eyes.

 

“Yes, Inuyasha, you were right, I'm wrong,” he grumbled, turning the care around so they could leave before someone got suspicious.

 

For the life of him, Miroku had not been able to understand what the hell Inuyasha was talking about with the whole, “I like Kagome, but she's really Kikyou acting to be someone else” scenario. He still didn't understand why the actress was doing what she was doing, but at least he now knew his friend wasn't crazy. When Inuyasha had begged him earlier to help in his plan to get the actress alone for a few minutes, he had gone alone with it just to see if what Inuyasha was saying had a grain of truth to it.

 

Now it seemed it did.

 

“See?” Inuyasha was still gushing about being right. “She went into Kikyou's house—she has to be Kikyou.”

 

“I know Inuyasha,” Miroku said in a placating manner. “So you're still going to meet little Miss Split Personality?”

 

“Feh, of course.”

 

“Suit yourself,” Miroku said, turning up the radio to drown out the grown feeling of wrongness he was feeling. Something about all of this was not right, and he did not want to see his friend get hurt.

 

“Its not just that I want to see her, I need to see her, Miroku,” Inuyasha said, his tone becoming more somber. He had sprawled out in the back of the cab, his head lolling against the headrest.

 

“And why is that?” Miroku turned down the radio to better hear the man in the backseat.

 

Inuyasha paused for a moment, considering his words. When he did finally speak, it was in an eerily quite tone, unmistakably serious. “I can't be completely sure, but I think she may be my mate.”

 

Miroku nearly crashed the car, and had to drag the wheel to his left to keep the vehicle from colliding with a guardrail he nearly hit when he jerked in response to Inuyasha's words. They fishtailed for a moment, then righted.

 

“How the hell do you know that?!”

 

“You know we pick mates my scent. I always wondered about Kikyou, but now that I've actually gotten be near her as a hanyou, well I think she could be mate material.” Inuyasha looked out the window. “Her scent isn't abhorrent like most women—its something I actually enjoy being around—and I like being around her. I'm taking that as a sign she might be it.”

 

“I hope you're sure, Inuyasha,” Miroku said carefully. He didn't know how to tell his friend his own misgivings.

 

XXXXXXXX

 

“Kagome.”

 

“Kagome.”

 

“Kagome.”

 

Half awake, half asleep, Kagome heard her name being called as her mind replayed the events with Inuyasha the actor at the wedding mansion.

 

“Kagome.”

 

There had been something tangibly familiar about the sound, the tone, the rhythm of how he spoke her name. In her near dreaming state, she couldn't place it.

 

Then, in the back of her mind, a small thought sprung to life.

 

Inuyasha sounds like Inuyasha. Inuyasha…Inuyasha. Funny, they both have the same name…like they're the same guy.

 

Sleepily she chuckled at what she was sure had to be a witty observation before rolling over and falling back to sleep.

 

XXXXXXXX

 

“Just suck in some more!” Sango commanded as she tried yet again to zip up Kagome's dress. Really Kikyou's dress Kagome was supposed to wear to the bachelorette party. Since Kagome had performed yet another disappearing act, they had not had time to get the dress altered to accommodate her larger chest size and shorter legs.

 

“I can't breath already—this `dress' is going to suffocate me!” Kagome whined. She already had a headache from the scolding she had received from both Kikyou and Sango, and the lack of oxygen she was getting from the party clothes wasn't helping. She felt even more guilty of what she was planning to do, but it was just when Inuyasha—the hanyou—asked her to do something, she couldn't think of anything but how to make it happen. She could care less what the actor Inuyasha asked of her.

 

What am I doing? She asked herself, not for the first time.

 

Sango had stopped tugging on the ends of the dress and was standing, staring at Kagome's back, a V of flesh where the dress's zipper was not meeting up. “Ok,” Sango commanded, “I'm going to count to three, you suck in and pull back the front as much as you can, and we'll see if we can't get this thing zipped.”

 

Kagome nodded and waited for Sango's count. Somehow that time, they managed to get the dress fastened, though Kagome wasn't sure how long she was going to last before she fainted from air loss.

 

Sango stepped back again to look at Kagome. The dress did not suit her—her breasts were about to pop out and the skirt was too long to be stylish. She was also looking pale from the blood supply cut off from her head.

 

Still, it would have to do, they didn't have anything else fitted for her that said “bachelorette party.”

 

Deciding that the dress was as good as it was going to get, she motioned for the hair and make up girls to get started.

 

Sango was a little pissed, needless to say. She understood Kagome was doing her sister a huge favor, but if she blew her cover, it wasn't going to matter. Kagome seemed to be a pretty rational girl and obedient to boot. So why the disappearing act? Sango's brow scrunched in thought. Kikyou relied on her to shoot down little problems before they happened, so she wasn't very happy with the fact Kagome had gotten away from them again.

 

Returning to what her gut was telling her, Sango wondered if Kagome was sneaking off to see a guy. But what guy? When she had asked Kikyou if Kagome was seeing anyone, Kikyou had laughed and said something about her sister being the Hollywood's oldest virgin.

 

But no matter how much of a prude Kagome might be didn't mean she wasn't running off to see someone. In fact, if as Kikyou implied, she wasn't used to having a significant other, it would make more sense for Kagome to hide any relationship she might be having.

 

The more she thought about it, the more it made sense.

 

A sudden thought occurred to Sango. What if some reporter had figured out what was going on and was using Kagome? The assistant swallowed hard. This could go very badly, and she would have to watch her employer's sister all the more carefully.

 

XXXXXXXXXX

 

Kagome looked at her watch for not the first time that night. Who knew a few hours could take so damn long? It was almost 9:30 and she had been creeping toward the door for the past half hour. Unfortunately, Sango was watching her like a hawk; a very hungry, pissed off hawk.

 

It was to be expected though. And why was she acting this way? She had always been the nerdy girl, studying and doing drama club. She had never ran after a guy in her life, and the male half of the species rarely glanced in her direction.

 

So, added with the fact that she was pretending to be her sister and getting married to a man who thought she was someone else, the fact that she was sneaking off to see a hanyou only made the entire situation all the more surreal.

 

Kagome was a little distracted concentrating on how she was going to make her run for the door without being tackled by Sango, when a pair of arms came up behind, giving her a squeeze. Squeaking, Kagome turned in the embrace to find her eyes meeting Inuyasha's—the actor's. What is he doing here? It's supposed to be a bachelorette party!

 

Panic rose up in Kagome as she realized she might not be able to get to Inuyasha.

 

“Hello, Kikyou,” Inuyasha was saying, a smirk gracing his lips.

 

“Hello, um, Inuyasha. Isn't it against the rules for you to be here?” She queried, trying to put a little distance between them but he kept his arms locked behind her back.

 

“I wanted to apologize for the other day—I was being stupid,” Inuyasha began. He didn't like saying he was sorry for anything, but then he was also an actor. Not to mention that his mind couldn't let go of the sad look in Kagome's eye from the day at the mansion, and he had to do something to clear his conscience.

 

“It's all right, you just surprised me,” Kagome lied. “Besides,” she said remembering several scenes from her sister's movies with Inuyasha, “Its not nothing that hasn't happened before.”

 

Finally, she managed to wiggle her arms out of Inuyasha's hold and reach behind her back to detach his hands. Stepping back from him, she offered him a small smile and headed back toward the bar.

 

“Hold up,” he called out, reaching and latching his hand around her arm before he reeled her back to him.

 

“What did they not get enough pictures of us already?” Kagome asked snidely, struggling to escape without causing a scene.

 

“Can't I want to be near my fiancé?” Asking with a face that was the picture of innocence.

 

“No, you don't even like being around me!” Kagome declared, finally succeeding in pulling her free of his hold. This time however she did not make a move away from him.

 

“Wherever did you get that idea?” Inuyasha was laughing at her with an arrogant twinkle in his violet eyes, and Kagome fumed. She was going to be late to see Inuyasha, and the thought both angered her and made her worried. Things were so precarious with the hanyou anyway, and she wanted to show him she didn't always have strange men following her around.

 

Inuyasha's inward grin was bigger than the one he was currently displaying to Kagome. It appeared she was chopping on the bit to get to Inuyasha, or the other Inuyasha. He had been waiting out in the parking lot like a good little hanyou, but he couldn't stand the anticipation. What was Kagome doing? Was she looking forward to seeing him? He knew from the meticulous schedule Sango had sent him that “Kikyou” was at this club for a bachelorette party, and his jealous mind had been flooded with images of Kagome dancing with other men, male strippers, god knew who. That last thought had made his eyes bleed red and his impatience to see her became unbearable.

 

Not particularly wanting to show Kagome his obnoxiously possessive side just yet, and hoping for the chance of being able to gage her feelings, he had gone in as his human self. Showing up as the famous actor had also made it easier to get into the club.

 

Kagome glared at Inuyasha for a moment. “You want to know why I think you don't like being around me? You always act pissed off, you blow hot and cold, and you act like I'm not doing anything for you.” She spoke as evenly as she could, trying hard not to let her voice waver with anger. “Do you think I want to be married to someone for show anymore than you do?” She finished quietly, grateful they were in a more secluded area of the club so she didn't have to scream too much.

 

“Ka—Kikyou,” he caught himself just in time. Kagome made a face that said she might have noticed, but with the swirling globes of light going around them, he couldn't be sure. “For the sake of both of our careers, I'll try to be more pleasant, if you try not to be such a frigid bitch.”

 

He thought for a moment that she was going to hit him, but she only smirked at him. “That is all I ask.” Turning, she tried yet again, to leave, but Inuyasha gently took up her wrist.

 

“Got a hot date, babe?” Inuyasha asked, moving smoothly in front of her to block her exit.

 

Kagome bit back the string of curses she wanted to throw in his face she was so frustrated. “You know it,” flashing her Kikyou half smile, attempting to get around the actor.

 

“But this is your bachelorette party, and I think your lackey/watch dog is coming this way,” he motioned in Sango's direction just as the assistant appeared at Kagome's side.

 

“Hello, Mr. Takahashi,” Sango said formally. “I was not informed you would be joining us this evening or I would have made accommodations.” Even though she was at a party, Sango still wore her typical business suit, clipboard, and heels, her hair pulled away from her face in her trademark ponytail. Kagome idly wondered if the woman had any fun clothes. What did she wear on the weekend? Working for Kikyou like she did, did she even have a weekend?

 

A quick glance at her watch while Sango and Inuyasha exchanged pleasantries was enough to bring Kagome back to reality. It was almost ten—she had to start making her way out of the club if she was going to be on time.

 

“No, Sango, that's really not necessary.” Inuyasha was saying to something Sango had offered, looking a little confused. “Why would there be female strippers at a bachelorette party anyway?”

 

As Sango began to explain the finer points of exotic dancers and Hollywood functions, Kagome ducked out quietly, disappearing into the crowd of people, strobe lights, and smoke. She didn't know anyone personally, and she had a feeling that if it had been Kikyou at the party instead, her sister would have had the same impression. People appeared to have been invited at random based on their star power.

 

After what was an eternity of squirming past grinding bodies, Kagome finally made it to the exit and out into the night.

 

Looking around, Inuyasha was nowhere to be seen. When she looked down at her watch, she found it read 10:05.

 

XXXXXXXXXX

 

A/N: There's more I swear! It's just more than I can fit into one chapter without loosing my concentration. I'm breaking Chapter 11 into halves because I want to fit a lot more in it that I had originally planned, so I'm going to end it here. Otherwise, I'll get burned out, and will stop writing, and everything will just sit on my computer for months on end. I also need to turn in part of my thesis, and so I want to cut this off to finish that. I will try to post the rest sometime with in the next week, but as always, no promises. My work schedule is going to be hectic, and I need to focus. I would much rather write fics for you guys, but sadly they aren't going to help me graduate from college.