InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Aftermath's Destruction ❯ Cake Walk ( Chapter 12 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Fay-of-Faerie 
Kouga's visit, a glimpse of Souta, and there's a change in living quarters.
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Drama / Romance | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 08.26.2007 | Pages: 5 | Words: 3.6K | Visits: 289 | Status: Work In Progress
Kouga's visit, a glimpse of Souta, and there's a change in living quarters.
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Drama / Romance | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 08.26.2007 | Pages: 5 | Words: 3.6K | Visits: 289 | Status: Work In Progress
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha.
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Aftermath's Destruction
Chapter Twelve: Cake Walk
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Kagome launched herself at her old friend and latched onto Kouga around the middle to give him a backbreaking hug. Kouga gave a deep-throated laugh as he returned it just as eagerly. A few moments later he disentangled Kagome's arms and pulled her away from him by the shoulders. He gave her a penetrating look as Kagome continued to babble, oblivious to his worry.
“Kouga! Wow, I know it's only been a week but it feels like forever since I saw you. So much has happened since then and it seems like a completely different world since I left you and Souta at the restaurant. The news has been so crazy about all the kidnappings you have to know what's been going on,” Kagome rambled. Her face was torn from happiness at seeing her friend and sadness at the events of the last week.
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Aftermath's Destruction
Chapter Twelve: Cake Walk
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.
.
Kagome launched herself at her old friend and latched onto Kouga around the middle to give him a backbreaking hug. Kouga gave a deep-throated laugh as he returned it just as eagerly. A few moments later he disentangled Kagome's arms and pulled her away from him by the shoulders. He gave her a penetrating look as Kagome continued to babble, oblivious to his worry.
“Kouga! Wow, I know it's only been a week but it feels like forever since I saw you. So much has happened since then and it seems like a completely different world since I left you and Souta at the restaurant. The news has been so crazy about all the kidnappings you have to know what's been going on,” Kagome rambled. Her face was torn from happiness at seeing her friend and sadness at the events of the last week.
He also noticed that she was a little paler than normal, and her blue eyes weren't as bright or cheeful. Her shoulders were a little slumped, and the dark bags from lack of sleep under her eyes were barely covered with make-up. She was still pretty, but he could tell the kidnappings were taking their tole on her, no matter how well she tried to hide it.
“Yeah, Kagome, I know,” Kouga said quietly while giving her a reassuring smile. He wrapped a supporting arm around her shoulders and led her to the front door. “Mind if I come in?”
“No, of course not,” Kagome said.
Kouga suddenly frowned. “I know you won't, but what about Dog Breath?”
Kagome lost her smile as she remembered the tension between her two guy friends. “Don't worry about him, Kagura-san and I'll keep him in line...hopefully.”
“Are there gonna be any sharp pointy objects where ever I see him,” Kouga grinned wickedly.
Kagome glowered up at him as they walked down the hall to the kitchen. “No stabbing him!”
She remembered her dream with Inuyasha and the butcher knife, and shivered. She didn't want to go through that again. Real or not.
Not that she thought Kouga would actually kill Inuyasha...maybe...
“Where have you been?” Kagome asked.
Kouga shrugged. “I'm sorry, real sorry, that I haven't called, but the medical school has me all over the place.”
“You're almost done?”
“Yeah, I'll graduate earlier than most of my class. Are you coming to watch me?”
Kagome smiled, a small but true one. “I wouldn't miss it for the world!” She declared proudly.
“Good.”
“Inuyasha,” Kagome called as they entered the kitchen, Kouga's arm still on her shoulders. “Look who came for a visit!”
“Yeah, and hopefully he'll be right back out on his ass soon,” Inuyasha grumbled. It was his house! Why was that...that wolf in here? Who in their right minds had a last name meaning wolf, anyway...
“Be nice,” Kagome reprehended him, “Kouga-kun is my friend and I invited him in.” There was the hidden threat in there that if he kicked Kouga out, Inuyasha would have to deal with her.
“Keh.”
Kagome rolled her eyes and waved at her previous seat at the table. “Sit down, Kouga. You thirsty? Hungry?”
“Starving,” Kouga announced and grinned happily when Kagome willingly moved around the kitchen to get him something to eat.
As she fumbled with some of the items, she thought some things over.
Kouga had come from Kyoto to visit her even when he should be working hard for his last few months at medical school.
Sango and Miroku had put a short hold on their relationship to help her in anyway they could. Miroku was even pulling his connections from working with the government to get some inside information.
Granted, there wasn't a lot of it.
Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru and Rin had once again opened their house to her.
Kagura and Kanna had come out of hiding, when the police could still be looking for them, just to be with Kagome.
Ayame, Hojo, and Nobunaga at work had taken some of her projects so she didn't have so much to worry about.
Bankotsu, the new client, had helped in a way too. His company's business distracted her.
All these people were working so hard to keep her life running smoothly. To make sure she wasn't going to become depressed or have a nervous breakdown. They were acting so normal about everything, even when things where nothing but normal, and that kept her from remembering how bad everything was.
`Easy as a cakewalk,' Kagome thought. `With friends like these, I could live my entire life in a sheltered, perfect little world where they'd never let anything bad come in. But...I'd give it up just to hug Souta and Shippou again.'
Conversation at the kitchen table lulled after Kouga was introduced to the people he didn't really know.
Kagome suddenly turned around from the counter and gave them all a grin.
“So...Inuyasha, how's Yura?” She asked to change the subject.
Well...
...It worked.
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---
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Bankotsu stared grimly at the wall opposite his desk. His office was a small and dark room on the top floor of the warehouse where all the kidnapped children were staying.
His plan was working.
He wouldn't technically call his little organization a sweatshop. Just a cheap labor camp. With the 112 children he'd abducted from homes all over Japan, he had his own team of workers.
They worked all day and night to produce clothes for him to sell. The guards made sure that all the products were in great condition.
Without worrying about paying his workers (since when did kids need to get paid?) he could spend more on supplies, making sure all the clothes made at the warehouse were of good quality.
So good clothes were made without too much money going into it. Which is why he could afford to sell all the products for cheap prices.
Bankotsu and his six partners had a nice little operation running. No one suspected a thing.
Not even Kagome Higurashi. A woman who worked in the business world and knew facts about things like the back of her hand. It was amazing how she didn't seem to figure out that great clothes for low prices seemed like a sketchy idea. Especially when it was ran by a businessman who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
`However,' Bankotsu mused, `Although the clothing company is going well, my plan isn't done yet.'
He'd carried out the first half of the plan.
He'd kidnapped children, worked them, and then used what they made for money. It was like a backup plan. If the other half of what he was planning didn't follow through, he could always fall back on the money made by selling clothes.
But the man didn't think his plan could fail.
“It's almost time,” Bankotsu murmured out loud, “To start the next step.”
He got up from his desk and strode over to one of the walls to look out the small window. Instead of looking outside, it opened out into the factory.
Bankotsu scanned the area where the children were sewing for one particular face. And then he saw him.
“Souta, my friend,” his mahogany eyes narrowed, “You're going to help me get what I want.”
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“Yura?” ; Inuyasha sputtered. “Where the hell did that come from?” He yelped.
Kagome blinked back at him innocently before shrugging. “I haven't seen her since I first started working for you. You know...we got along pretty well.”
Inuyasha scowled. “That's what I don't like.”
Kagome went back to cutting up some food for Kouga. “What? Afraid she'll tell me more embarrassing stories about you? Her being your ex-girlfriend has its advantages.”
“Yeah...stories,” Inuyasha muttered. `More like she'll implant the idea into your head that you should never date me! Yura is an evil little witch...'
Kagome decided to change the subject again. “What do you think about Bankotsu and his company?”
Inuyasha blinked while his mind tried to wrap around the new topic. Sesshoumaru smoothly answered, “I think his business will help the company.”
“Bankotsu and his company?” Kouga parroted, not knowing what they were talking about.
Kagome set down a plate in front of the brunette. “Yeah,” she told him, “Bankotsu Tsurugi is a man that just signed onto the company I work for. I'm going to help him advertise his clothing line. Good quality clothes for some pretty cheap prices,” she explained.
“Oh,” Kouga nodded.
Kagura frowned. “That sounds odd, you know? I've been shopping all around the world and most stores have bad clothes for low prices, or good clothes for expensive amounts. Maybe the clothes aren't that good. They'll probably fall apart after you wash them or something.”
Sesshoumaru nodded. He finally found something to agree about with this red- eyed woman. “True. I though the same thing, but I looked at the clothes myself. They don't seem to be of bad quality.”
Kagura glared at him, not that happy with the smooth businessman.
Kagome looked between them, thinking about what they said. “You know what?” she decided. “You two just can't trust anybody. Bankotsu's a nice guy and I saw the clothes too, they're good. Maybe he doesn't sell them for a lot of money because he's already rich and doesn't need it.”
Inuyasha scowled. “I don't like him.”
Kagome swatted at his arm. “You don't like any men I know.”
“Feh,” Inuyasha scoffed. “I don't like Bankotsu, not because he's a guy, but because he seems too perfect. Jackass. He's probably this horrible person who covers it up. Like most businessmen.”
The rest of the people at the breakfast table looked at him seriously and thought over what Inuyasha said.
Kagome finally rolled her eyes. “You're just paranoid...anyone want any more tea?”
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Bankotsu watched Souta work on one of the large machines. The small boy worked all day since he took over Shippou's work.
`He's loyal,' Bankotsu mused.
Most people thought that the kidnappings were done at random. The only coincidences in all 112 cases were the ages.
But the police were wrong.
True, most of the cases were done at random. Bankotsu and his partners needed able-bodied kids to work and weren't too picky about it.
Two cases, however, were chosen.
Souta and Shippou.
Unlike the other children, Bankotsu needed these for his second half of his plan. He could do without them making clothes if they were able to get him what he wanted.
Sadly, the little boys had no clue they were being used.
Bankotsu suddenly scowled. His partners didn't think he could pull it off. They didn't think he could use Souta and Shippou to get what they all wanted.
But he would prove them wrong. And if they continued to disbelieve in his abilities...Bankotsu would just have to dispose of them.
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Kagome watched tiredly as Inuyasha and Kouga continued to argue. Everyone else had already gotten up and left to do whatever they did on Saturdays to leave Kagome acting as referee.
`Inuyasha is such a moron!' Kagome wailed mentally. Why couldn't that idiot see that Kouga was only her friend? Sheesh, Inuyasha was just an arrogant jerk.
A protective, jealous arrogant jerk.
But whatever.
Kagome groaned as another round of insults started. The two men seemed to find `Dog Breath' and `Wimpy Wolf' their favorites.
Kagome rolled her eyes. `Dog Breath' and `Wimpy Wolf' were just so...so...well, for lack of a better word, lame! Couldn't two fully grown males come up with better ones?
`Let's see...Kouga calls Inuyasha dog breath because inu means dog. Inuyasha on the other hand calls Kouga wimpy wolf because Ookami, Kouga's last name, means wolf...'
They're both technically canines so why the hell couldn't they get along???
“That's it!” Kagome snapped. “Kouga,” she turned to the brown haired man, “Would you go for a walk with me?”
Inuyasha spluttered, offended, as Kouga happily accepted her outstretched hand. Out in the hallway Kagome whistled for Miko, the Youkai family's dog, to go with them.
`What the hell?!' Inuyasha mentally screamed. He was ditched! Again!
`Damn it...'
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Kouga observed quietly as Kagome picked a sprig of some kind of flower from the barren garden.
She toddled back to him, Miko at her heels, and held the small flowers out to him. When he accepted it, Kagome attended to her scarf, which was loose and trailing over her coat. After it was tightened, they started across the snow again, side by side.
“I thought flowers didn't bloom in the dead of winter,” Kouga said idly.
“That's jasmine,” Kagome informed her old time friend. “It blooms all year round.”
“Hn,” Kouga grunted and tucked the flower into his pocket.
They continued to stroll down the path. Miko ran ahead of them and plowed through the snow. In the really deep parts the dog would leap and bound around, sending sprays of the white powder everywhere.
Kagome laughed as the Akita tried to catch a white rabbit as it raced around the grounds that surrounded Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru's house.
Kouga listened to the delighted giggle and decided it was a real one, unlike most of her laughter throughout the morning.
With her, he knew, you could never know if she was being truthful with her feelings.
Ever since he'd known her, since middle school when he moved to Kyoto, Kouga had noticed something about Kagome.
No matter what she was feeling, she always tried to put up a happy and brave front. She had it down to a talent, her smiles and laughs always sounded real. Why?
Because she didn't want to worry anyone. She would do anything in her power to make sure everyone around her was happy and content, and didn't worry about herself until everyone else was ok.
Her entire attitude about life was to make everyone else comfortable.
Sometimes, it worried Kouga. She needed to learn how to take care of herself as well.
When Naraku had first come into the picture, all those years ago, Kouga had almost been glad. At first, Naraku took care of Kagome, kept her happy.
Naraku, Kouga had thought, would take care of Kagome when she took care of everyone else.
Then Kouga had met Naraku and had seen how fake the man was. He'd watched as Kagome was abused and harmed. And, he decided then, when Kagome got out of it, he'd help her find Mr. Right.
He really only did care that Kagome was happy.
Of course...then the stormy eyed girl had met Inuyasha.
Kagome may have thought that Inu was great, but Kouga hated him. It wasn't that he thought Inuyasha couldn't take care of Kagome, it was that he wouldn't take care of her. Inuyasha was naturally a conceited, arrogant, egotistical, self-centered jerk.
Kagome deserved more than that.
“Kouga!” her voice suddenly broke through his thoughts. “Look at that!” she bubbled, “Look!” Her mitten clad hand pointed a little off the side of the path at a small ditch.
Kouga grinned when he saw a small litter of kittens. Kagome ran forward and began to coo over them.
“We have to find their mother and take them all into the house! They'll freeze!” she began to look around. A few minutes later, Kouga had helped her round up the mother cat and all six babies.
Trooping back to the house, a cat and three kittens in his arms, Kouga glanced out of the corner of his eye.
Yes...
...Kagome deserved the best.
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Inuyasha sniffed. “I hate cats.”
Kagome stood directly across from him, her fists on her hips. Inuyasha had his classic pose of his arms crossed in defiance. “I love cats.”
Inuyasha glared at her. “Doesn't matter. My house. I hate cats. They're not staying.”
“Well, then,” Kagome huffed. “They're my cats and if they can't stay here, than I can't either. I'll see if I can bunk with Sango and Miroku. If that doesn't work, I can always move back home.”
Inuyasha scowled at her, his eyes narrowed. “You're not staying in that apartment all by yourself.”
“I'm old enough to take care of myself, Inuyasha,” Kagome snapped.
Kouga marveled at how Inuyasha seemed to always be able to bring Kagome out of her shell. The wall that she put up where she was only smiles and comfort instead of the tough woman she really was.
“Actually, she wouldn't have to be alone,” Kouga stepped between the two. “I could stay with her and the cats at her apartment.”
“No!” Inuyasha growled. He didn't like that idea.
“Well, you already hate me being here,” Kagura drawled from her position in a nearby chair. “Kanna and I could stay with Kagome.”
Inuyasha realized he was losing the battle...fast. It was either let cats stay in his doggy home and keep Kagome there, or have the cats gone...along with Kagome. Amazingly, he wasn't stupid. He knew he liked Kagome's company and wouldn't get rid of it willingly.
“But,” his mind searched for a good argument to that. All it presented with him was joy at the thought of getting rid of Kagura too. “It would be hell moving all your stuff out again!”
He smirked, smug with the fact that he had come up with a good retort.
Kagome blinked back at him before shrugging. “What stuff? All I brought here was a suitcase-,”
“Four suitcases.”
“-Of clothes. That won't be that hard to pack,” Kagome finished, despite Inuyasha's rude interruption.
`Crap. She has a point,' Inu's mind searched again for something to say.
Funnily enough, Kagura was the one to save him.
“Drat,” she scowled, “My brother doesn't allow pets in his apartment building. And I think 7 cats would count as pets.”
“But he's your brother!” Kagome protested, frowning at Inuyasha's triumphant smirk. “He owns my apartment building, so can't you just ask him to let me have them there?”
Kagura shook her head. “Sorry. Even so, don't you think you don't have enough room? I mean...seven cats!”
“Make that eight,” Sesshoumaru stepped into the room, shaking his head to get rid of the snow in his hair. Rin entered behind him, grinning madly, with another kitten in her hands.
Kagome raced over and she and the little girl cooed over the new arrival.
Sesshoumaru looked at them before turning back to his brother. “Inuyasha...Rin likes the kittens. I want them to stay.”
“But-!”
“My house,” Sesshoumaru's voice had an edge to it. “They're staying.”
“...Feh,” Inuyasha collapsed into a couch, defeated.
At least Kagome was staying...
“Yeah, Kagome, I know,” Kouga said quietly while giving her a reassuring smile. He wrapped a supporting arm around her shoulders and led her to the front door. “Mind if I come in?”
“No, of course not,” Kagome said.
Kouga suddenly frowned. “I know you won't, but what about Dog Breath?”
Kagome lost her smile as she remembered the tension between her two guy friends. “Don't worry about him, Kagura-san and I'll keep him in line...hopefully.”
“Are there gonna be any sharp pointy objects where ever I see him,” Kouga grinned wickedly.
Kagome glowered up at him as they walked down the hall to the kitchen. “No stabbing him!”
She remembered her dream with Inuyasha and the butcher knife, and shivered. She didn't want to go through that again. Real or not.
Not that she thought Kouga would actually kill Inuyasha...maybe...
“Where have you been?” Kagome asked.
Kouga shrugged. “I'm sorry, real sorry, that I haven't called, but the medical school has me all over the place.”
“You're almost done?”
“Yeah, I'll graduate earlier than most of my class. Are you coming to watch me?”
Kagome smiled, a small but true one. “I wouldn't miss it for the world!” She declared proudly.
“Good.”
“Inuyasha,” Kagome called as they entered the kitchen, Kouga's arm still on her shoulders. “Look who came for a visit!”
“Yeah, and hopefully he'll be right back out on his ass soon,” Inuyasha grumbled. It was his house! Why was that...that wolf in here? Who in their right minds had a last name meaning wolf, anyway...
“Be nice,” Kagome reprehended him, “Kouga-kun is my friend and I invited him in.” There was the hidden threat in there that if he kicked Kouga out, Inuyasha would have to deal with her.
“Keh.”
Kagome rolled her eyes and waved at her previous seat at the table. “Sit down, Kouga. You thirsty? Hungry?”
“Starving,” Kouga announced and grinned happily when Kagome willingly moved around the kitchen to get him something to eat.
As she fumbled with some of the items, she thought some things over.
Kouga had come from Kyoto to visit her even when he should be working hard for his last few months at medical school.
Sango and Miroku had put a short hold on their relationship to help her in anyway they could. Miroku was even pulling his connections from working with the government to get some inside information.
Granted, there wasn't a lot of it.
Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru and Rin had once again opened their house to her.
Kagura and Kanna had come out of hiding, when the police could still be looking for them, just to be with Kagome.
Ayame, Hojo, and Nobunaga at work had taken some of her projects so she didn't have so much to worry about.
Bankotsu, the new client, had helped in a way too. His company's business distracted her.
All these people were working so hard to keep her life running smoothly. To make sure she wasn't going to become depressed or have a nervous breakdown. They were acting so normal about everything, even when things where nothing but normal, and that kept her from remembering how bad everything was.
`Easy as a cakewalk,' Kagome thought. `With friends like these, I could live my entire life in a sheltered, perfect little world where they'd never let anything bad come in. But...I'd give it up just to hug Souta and Shippou again.'
Conversation at the kitchen table lulled after Kouga was introduced to the people he didn't really know.
Kagome suddenly turned around from the counter and gave them all a grin.
“So...Inuyasha, how's Yura?” She asked to change the subject.
Well...
...It worked.
.
---
.
Bankotsu stared grimly at the wall opposite his desk. His office was a small and dark room on the top floor of the warehouse where all the kidnapped children were staying.
His plan was working.
He wouldn't technically call his little organization a sweatshop. Just a cheap labor camp. With the 112 children he'd abducted from homes all over Japan, he had his own team of workers.
They worked all day and night to produce clothes for him to sell. The guards made sure that all the products were in great condition.
Without worrying about paying his workers (since when did kids need to get paid?) he could spend more on supplies, making sure all the clothes made at the warehouse were of good quality.
So good clothes were made without too much money going into it. Which is why he could afford to sell all the products for cheap prices.
Bankotsu and his six partners had a nice little operation running. No one suspected a thing.
Not even Kagome Higurashi. A woman who worked in the business world and knew facts about things like the back of her hand. It was amazing how she didn't seem to figure out that great clothes for low prices seemed like a sketchy idea. Especially when it was ran by a businessman who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
`However,' Bankotsu mused, `Although the clothing company is going well, my plan isn't done yet.'
He'd carried out the first half of the plan.
He'd kidnapped children, worked them, and then used what they made for money. It was like a backup plan. If the other half of what he was planning didn't follow through, he could always fall back on the money made by selling clothes.
But the man didn't think his plan could fail.
“It's almost time,” Bankotsu murmured out loud, “To start the next step.”
He got up from his desk and strode over to one of the walls to look out the small window. Instead of looking outside, it opened out into the factory.
Bankotsu scanned the area where the children were sewing for one particular face. And then he saw him.
“Souta, my friend,” his mahogany eyes narrowed, “You're going to help me get what I want.”
.
---
.
“Yura?” ; Inuyasha sputtered. “Where the hell did that come from?” He yelped.
Kagome blinked back at him innocently before shrugging. “I haven't seen her since I first started working for you. You know...we got along pretty well.”
Inuyasha scowled. “That's what I don't like.”
Kagome went back to cutting up some food for Kouga. “What? Afraid she'll tell me more embarrassing stories about you? Her being your ex-girlfriend has its advantages.”
“Yeah...stories,” Inuyasha muttered. `More like she'll implant the idea into your head that you should never date me! Yura is an evil little witch...'
Kagome decided to change the subject again. “What do you think about Bankotsu and his company?”
Inuyasha blinked while his mind tried to wrap around the new topic. Sesshoumaru smoothly answered, “I think his business will help the company.”
“Bankotsu and his company?” Kouga parroted, not knowing what they were talking about.
Kagome set down a plate in front of the brunette. “Yeah,” she told him, “Bankotsu Tsurugi is a man that just signed onto the company I work for. I'm going to help him advertise his clothing line. Good quality clothes for some pretty cheap prices,” she explained.
“Oh,” Kouga nodded.
Kagura frowned. “That sounds odd, you know? I've been shopping all around the world and most stores have bad clothes for low prices, or good clothes for expensive amounts. Maybe the clothes aren't that good. They'll probably fall apart after you wash them or something.”
Sesshoumaru nodded. He finally found something to agree about with this red- eyed woman. “True. I though the same thing, but I looked at the clothes myself. They don't seem to be of bad quality.”
Kagura glared at him, not that happy with the smooth businessman.
Kagome looked between them, thinking about what they said. “You know what?” she decided. “You two just can't trust anybody. Bankotsu's a nice guy and I saw the clothes too, they're good. Maybe he doesn't sell them for a lot of money because he's already rich and doesn't need it.”
Inuyasha scowled. “I don't like him.”
Kagome swatted at his arm. “You don't like any men I know.”
“Feh,” Inuyasha scoffed. “I don't like Bankotsu, not because he's a guy, but because he seems too perfect. Jackass. He's probably this horrible person who covers it up. Like most businessmen.”
The rest of the people at the breakfast table looked at him seriously and thought over what Inuyasha said.
Kagome finally rolled her eyes. “You're just paranoid...anyone want any more tea?”
.
---
.
Bankotsu watched Souta work on one of the large machines. The small boy worked all day since he took over Shippou's work.
`He's loyal,' Bankotsu mused.
Most people thought that the kidnappings were done at random. The only coincidences in all 112 cases were the ages.
But the police were wrong.
True, most of the cases were done at random. Bankotsu and his partners needed able-bodied kids to work and weren't too picky about it.
Two cases, however, were chosen.
Souta and Shippou.
Unlike the other children, Bankotsu needed these for his second half of his plan. He could do without them making clothes if they were able to get him what he wanted.
Sadly, the little boys had no clue they were being used.
Bankotsu suddenly scowled. His partners didn't think he could pull it off. They didn't think he could use Souta and Shippou to get what they all wanted.
But he would prove them wrong. And if they continued to disbelieve in his abilities...Bankotsu would just have to dispose of them.
.
---
.
Kagome watched tiredly as Inuyasha and Kouga continued to argue. Everyone else had already gotten up and left to do whatever they did on Saturdays to leave Kagome acting as referee.
`Inuyasha is such a moron!' Kagome wailed mentally. Why couldn't that idiot see that Kouga was only her friend? Sheesh, Inuyasha was just an arrogant jerk.
A protective, jealous arrogant jerk.
But whatever.
Kagome groaned as another round of insults started. The two men seemed to find `Dog Breath' and `Wimpy Wolf' their favorites.
Kagome rolled her eyes. `Dog Breath' and `Wimpy Wolf' were just so...so...well, for lack of a better word, lame! Couldn't two fully grown males come up with better ones?
`Let's see...Kouga calls Inuyasha dog breath because inu means dog. Inuyasha on the other hand calls Kouga wimpy wolf because Ookami, Kouga's last name, means wolf...'
They're both technically canines so why the hell couldn't they get along???
“That's it!” Kagome snapped. “Kouga,” she turned to the brown haired man, “Would you go for a walk with me?”
Inuyasha spluttered, offended, as Kouga happily accepted her outstretched hand. Out in the hallway Kagome whistled for Miko, the Youkai family's dog, to go with them.
`What the hell?!' Inuyasha mentally screamed. He was ditched! Again!
`Damn it...'
.
Kouga observed quietly as Kagome picked a sprig of some kind of flower from the barren garden.
She toddled back to him, Miko at her heels, and held the small flowers out to him. When he accepted it, Kagome attended to her scarf, which was loose and trailing over her coat. After it was tightened, they started across the snow again, side by side.
“I thought flowers didn't bloom in the dead of winter,” Kouga said idly.
“That's jasmine,” Kagome informed her old time friend. “It blooms all year round.”
“Hn,” Kouga grunted and tucked the flower into his pocket.
They continued to stroll down the path. Miko ran ahead of them and plowed through the snow. In the really deep parts the dog would leap and bound around, sending sprays of the white powder everywhere.
Kagome laughed as the Akita tried to catch a white rabbit as it raced around the grounds that surrounded Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru's house.
Kouga listened to the delighted giggle and decided it was a real one, unlike most of her laughter throughout the morning.
With her, he knew, you could never know if she was being truthful with her feelings.
Ever since he'd known her, since middle school when he moved to Kyoto, Kouga had noticed something about Kagome.
No matter what she was feeling, she always tried to put up a happy and brave front. She had it down to a talent, her smiles and laughs always sounded real. Why?
Because she didn't want to worry anyone. She would do anything in her power to make sure everyone around her was happy and content, and didn't worry about herself until everyone else was ok.
Her entire attitude about life was to make everyone else comfortable.
Sometimes, it worried Kouga. She needed to learn how to take care of herself as well.
When Naraku had first come into the picture, all those years ago, Kouga had almost been glad. At first, Naraku took care of Kagome, kept her happy.
Naraku, Kouga had thought, would take care of Kagome when she took care of everyone else.
Then Kouga had met Naraku and had seen how fake the man was. He'd watched as Kagome was abused and harmed. And, he decided then, when Kagome got out of it, he'd help her find Mr. Right.
He really only did care that Kagome was happy.
Of course...then the stormy eyed girl had met Inuyasha.
Kagome may have thought that Inu was great, but Kouga hated him. It wasn't that he thought Inuyasha couldn't take care of Kagome, it was that he wouldn't take care of her. Inuyasha was naturally a conceited, arrogant, egotistical, self-centered jerk.
Kagome deserved more than that.
“Kouga!” her voice suddenly broke through his thoughts. “Look at that!” she bubbled, “Look!” Her mitten clad hand pointed a little off the side of the path at a small ditch.
Kouga grinned when he saw a small litter of kittens. Kagome ran forward and began to coo over them.
“We have to find their mother and take them all into the house! They'll freeze!” she began to look around. A few minutes later, Kouga had helped her round up the mother cat and all six babies.
Trooping back to the house, a cat and three kittens in his arms, Kouga glanced out of the corner of his eye.
Yes...
...Kagome deserved the best.
.
---
.
Inuyasha sniffed. “I hate cats.”
Kagome stood directly across from him, her fists on her hips. Inuyasha had his classic pose of his arms crossed in defiance. “I love cats.”
Inuyasha glared at her. “Doesn't matter. My house. I hate cats. They're not staying.”
“Well, then,” Kagome huffed. “They're my cats and if they can't stay here, than I can't either. I'll see if I can bunk with Sango and Miroku. If that doesn't work, I can always move back home.”
Inuyasha scowled at her, his eyes narrowed. “You're not staying in that apartment all by yourself.”
“I'm old enough to take care of myself, Inuyasha,” Kagome snapped.
Kouga marveled at how Inuyasha seemed to always be able to bring Kagome out of her shell. The wall that she put up where she was only smiles and comfort instead of the tough woman she really was.
“Actually, she wouldn't have to be alone,” Kouga stepped between the two. “I could stay with her and the cats at her apartment.”
“No!” Inuyasha growled. He didn't like that idea.
“Well, you already hate me being here,” Kagura drawled from her position in a nearby chair. “Kanna and I could stay with Kagome.”
Inuyasha realized he was losing the battle...fast. It was either let cats stay in his doggy home and keep Kagome there, or have the cats gone...along with Kagome. Amazingly, he wasn't stupid. He knew he liked Kagome's company and wouldn't get rid of it willingly.
“But,” his mind searched for a good argument to that. All it presented with him was joy at the thought of getting rid of Kagura too. “It would be hell moving all your stuff out again!”
He smirked, smug with the fact that he had come up with a good retort.
Kagome blinked back at him before shrugging. “What stuff? All I brought here was a suitcase-,”
“Four suitcases.”
“-Of clothes. That won't be that hard to pack,” Kagome finished, despite Inuyasha's rude interruption.
`Crap. She has a point,' Inu's mind searched again for something to say.
Funnily enough, Kagura was the one to save him.
“Drat,” she scowled, “My brother doesn't allow pets in his apartment building. And I think 7 cats would count as pets.”
“But he's your brother!” Kagome protested, frowning at Inuyasha's triumphant smirk. “He owns my apartment building, so can't you just ask him to let me have them there?”
Kagura shook her head. “Sorry. Even so, don't you think you don't have enough room? I mean...seven cats!”
“Make that eight,” Sesshoumaru stepped into the room, shaking his head to get rid of the snow in his hair. Rin entered behind him, grinning madly, with another kitten in her hands.
Kagome raced over and she and the little girl cooed over the new arrival.
Sesshoumaru looked at them before turning back to his brother. “Inuyasha...Rin likes the kittens. I want them to stay.”
“But-!”
“My house,” Sesshoumaru's voice had an edge to it. “They're staying.”
“...Feh,” Inuyasha collapsed into a couch, defeated.
At least Kagome was staying...