InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Close Quarters ❯ Ground Rules ( Chapter 9 )

A/N: And right into the next chapter! I'm sorry to all of us who are experiencing one of MM.org technical difficulties! I post a new chapter and half of you on MM.org can't even see it!

 

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`bang, bang, bang, bang,'

 

“Inuyasha?” Shippou asked, as he poked his head inside the door. He was drawn in by a loud, banging sound and was wondering if Inuyasha was destroying his brand new office. What he found was quit different. Inuyasha was sitting behind his new “U” shaped executive desk, and in his new leather computer chair banging his head on the smooth wood.

 

“So this how you got to be such an idiot?” He teased.

 

“I'm not in the mood Shippou!” Inuyasha yelled as he threw a stapler at the young delivery boy. Shippou ducked quickly, he was getting use to Inuyasha's temper and his habit of sending projectiles across the room.

 

“Wow, that was something heavy. I guess you are pissed. What is it?”

 

“Did you deliver the prototypes to the right place this time?” Inuyasha asked, rubbing his temples.

 

“Yeah, but I know that's not what's bothering you.”

 

“I was just informed that we'll be having a press party for the new game players.”

 

“So…?” Shippou hinted

 

“I just broke up with my girlfriend days ago and they decide to tell me now that I need to have a date! This party is important because the press will be there asking questions and they'll have a group of randomly selected kids to test the product on camera! I'll be in front of a shit load of people answering all types of questions! And now I need a date!”

 

“I'm sure girls are beating down your door…”

 

“Shippou…” He warned.

 

“Well just ask one of the employees here,” he offered.

 

“Nice try,” Inuyasha snorted.

 

“Isn't your roommate a girl?”

 

“I can't take Kagome!”

 

“Well why not?”

 

“Because!”

 

“Because…what?” He asked, grinning at his flustered employer.

 

“Because it's Kagome!”

 

“Does she have a boyfriend?” Shippou asked, sitting down in one of the chairs that matched the dark, garnet paint on the walls.

 

“No.”

 

“Is she pretty?”

 

“Feh,” He grunted.

 

“Then ask her to do you a favor. Isn't she the one working on the ads anyway?”

 

“Yeah,”

 

“Then she should be up for this.” Inuyasha stared out of his right side windows, lost in thought.

 

`Kagome really wouldn't be a bad choice…'

 

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The day had gone surprisingly well. Kouga was very professional and didn't bring their personal matters into any of their conversations. His ideas were more what Kagome could only guess as appealing to children as opposed to the classical approach she and Sango were trying to take. He had told her `That billboard poster would have been fine in the 1970's'.

 

“Well we have to stick to the budget for the commercial, we can't just break that.” Kagome and Kouga were in the middle of a light-hearted debate over the commercial details.

 

“We have to make this seem interesting Kagome. You're script that says; “Wow, this is great! The new hand-held game player from Tohomiko is awesome!” Just isn't gonna do it.” He said reading from the script and making little high-pitched voices as he read the lines.

 

“Well what do you suggest?” She asked, leaning back in her chair.

 

“I think we should put in more camera angles, add some CG effects, and make the lines sound less corny,” he said, matter-of-factly.

 

“Lines we can change; Camera angles maybe, but the CG effects are what concerns me. We have to pay the models, the director, the camera crew, and the actors for the commercial…we might not have enough money for major computer generated effects.”

 

“Let me worry about the budget,” he said, smirking.

 

“Fine, I'll give you control over the budget if you give me control over the lines and determining if we need the CG effects.”

 

“As long as it's not so basic,” he agreed.

 

“And as long you don't bankrupt us,” she agreed back.

 

“You got a deal Miss Kagome.”

 

“Thank you,” she said, smiling.

 

“What did you have in mind?” He asked.

 

“I was thinking we'd set it in a middle school campus since their age rang is the target audience.”

 

“So far; so good,” he said, leaning over the desk to rest his chin on the heel of his hand.

 

“I want to two boys on opposite ends of the campus playing the games. But the thing is I want a group of kids running back and forth between them trying to watch both play at once. And I want the cameras circling the boys and zooming in on what their doing with the game, but I want it done real fast. Like they're circling them slow for a minute and then it speeds up and zooms in really fast on the game players.” Kouga watched and listened to her intently as she gave her ideas. He couldn't help but smile at how animated she got while she talked. He never knew she was so creative, and he had a feeling that she didn't know either.

 

“I like the idea and I think if we do it well then won't need many CG effects or a script. We might need a narrator, but besides that the director could tell the kids what they need to do.”

 

“So we agree?” She asked, looking hopeful.

 

“Yeah, the commercial idea is done. Lets go back to the magazine and billboard ads.”

 

“I thought you already made changes to them?”

 

“I think we should have two of each.”

 

“I guess that could work; anything else?”

 

“There is one thing. Will you let me apologize and explain about Friday night?” He asked looking her directly in the eyes.

 

“Kouga I don't want to talk-“

 

“She's not my fiancée, Kagome.” Kagome began to laugh and shake her head.

 

`Does he think I'm an idiot?'

 

“Kouga please spare me the lies.”

 

“I swear to you that I'm not lying. Her name is Ayame and our parents thought it would be a good business move to get us to marry, but I never went along with it. She, being young and naïve, believed everything she heard and so she thinks were engaged.”

 

“What do you mean about her believing everything she heard? What did she hear?” Kagome asked suspiciously.

 

“About a year ago when she got real bad with the whole marriage thing I told her I would do it to make her stop,” he said, nervously.

 

“You told her that you would marry her to make her leave you alone?”

 

“Kagome, she was stalking me!”

 

“I don't care Kouga! You don't play around young girl's hearts like that! She has a right to be upset and you owe it to her to give her an explanation and work this out!” Kagome was now towering over her co-worker pointing an accusatory finger into his chest.

 

“But Kagome you're my woman!”

 

“Kouga I am not and will not get involved with you again after this! You have no respect for women! You're a pig, a complete pig!” Kagome stomped out of her office, ignoring the stares she was receiving from surrounding co-workers and headed for the restroom.

 

She never knew she could get so angry. Inuyasha had never made her this angry. Even with all his name-calling and obnoxious behavior, he still treated her like a person. And now she runs across someone who claims her as his woman and breaks the hearts of unsuspecting girls by telling them he will marry them and then leaving them. She felt like she wanted to scratch his eyes out. But she couldn't let this affect her job anymore. As much as she had riding on this project; it was the thought of letting Inuyasha down that kept her going.

 

`I'll calm down and go back in there to do what I have to do. But first I have to lay some ground rules for Kouga.'

 

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Inuyasha walked nervously into Kagome's room. He had taken the time for his lunch hour to come home and check something. He didn't want her to know he had been in her room so he tried very hard not touch anything in the least little bit. He opened the door to the closet and sorted through the clothes that were hung up. He took longer looks at the skimpier pieces of clothing. When he finally found what he was looking for, it encouraged him even more to carry out with his plans.

 

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“Look Kouga, we have a job to do and we're going to do it. No more personal matters come into this office. I will not have my job compromised because of you,” Kagome said strictly as she sat back down in her chair.

 

“I'm sorry Kagome, I-“

 

“No, no more of that. Back to business,” she said.

 

“Okay, fine,” Kouga was pissed. He had tried to be honest with her and it backfired.

 

“You start designs for the second billboard ad and I'll do the second magazine ad,” she said, logging onto her computer and not looking at him.

 

Kouga loved her fire but he was getting annoyed at the way she was barking out orders, and even a little turned on.

 

`You're still my woman Kagome. I just have to make you see that.'

 

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Kagome walk into the apartment in a pretty bad mood. That fight with Kouga had triggered something in her that wasn't quit calm yet. She fully expected to get an ear full from Inuyasha but instead she was greeted with the scent of pizza. It helped to relieve her because she knew she wouldn't have to cook anything and she could just relax.

 

“Look at you. I knew you would be tired the minute I got home and saw that you weren't here yet,” he said, coming out of the kitchen carrying five slices of pizza on a plate.

 

“Yeah I had a rough day at the office,” she said, smiling weakly.

 

“Was it him?” Inuyasha asked, looking grim.

 

“I don't want to tell you about it and have you going off,” she said, heading to her room to put down her briefcase.

 

“I won't go off, I'll just hurt him!”

 

“That's not any better. I can handle it Inuyasha,” she said, breezing by to go into the kitchen.

 

“Wait,” He said, grabbing her hand.

 

“I have something to show you.” He jogged out of the room and down the hall into his, while she stood there staring after him.

 

When he came back up the hall, she could hear the rustle of plastic. But all of her internal questions were answer when he appeared in the living room carrying a beautiful dress covered in plastic. It was black and she could see rhinestones on the fabric that made it shimmer. Even though she couldn't see much else through the plastic, she knew it was gorgeous and expensive. Her mouth dropped and she just stared at it as if she was frozen.

 

“Well are you going to try it on bitch?” Inuyasha was starting to get nervous. He had tried to pick out something pretty and ended up having to trust the sales woman's judgment.

 

“Why?” She breathed.

 

“I need to you to be my date for a press party.”

 

“Me?” She asked, pointing at herself.

 

“Yeah, stupid.”

 

“And you want me to wear that?” She asked, now pointing at the dress.

 

“You're really slow on the uptake tonight huh?” He walked over and shoved the dress into her hands.

 

“Try it on already.” Then he simply went to retrieve his plate of pizza off the coffee table and started eating again. Kagome moved numbly to her room to try on the dress. Butterflies fluttered around in her stomach at her excitement. She had never worn something so elegant and she couldn't believe that Inuyasha had bought it for her. And he wanted her to be his date too. She half expected it all to be some sick joke where he would come in any minute and yank the dress out of her hands, laughing.

 

But she wouldn't give him the chance. She removed the plastic covering without ripping it and laid the dress on her bed while she removed her clothes. Back in the living room Inuyasha was feeling just nervous even though he was trying to hide it. What if she hated it once she tried it on? What if he had gotten the wrong size? He did not want to take another trip back to that store and deal with that chipper sales woman who gushed over him when she thought he was buying the dress for his wife. When he said no she gushed over it being his girlfriend. When he said no that she pinched his cheek, thinking it was for his mother. All in all he had been only too happy to get out of there. He couldn't stand the thought of having to go back.

 

But when Kagome came out wearing the dress he knew he had made right choice. She looked amazing in it. The black complimented her lightly tanned skin and hugged each and every one of her curves with adoring affection. The neckline spilled low enough without being too revealing and the rhinestones lined up right under breasts with some scattered about in different directions. She did a little twirl and he could see that the back dipped just below her shoulder blades and spilled over in the fashion as the neckline. It hung to the floor gracefully and fanned out around her feet. He could tell it suited her; it was as if the dress had been made so she could wear it.

 

“Well?” She asked

 

“You don't look like a complete disaster,” he said, trying to recover. But Kagome wasn't convinced. She had caught the way he stared and it made her feel pretty, even sexy.

 

“I'm going to go take it off and hang it up,” she said, bouncing back to her room. When she was out of sight Inuyasha smiled to himself. He would have to tell Shippou he was right. Not with those exact words of course.

 

For the rest of the night Kagome was on cloud nine. The flaming anger she had felt about Kouga disappeared entirely and she felt like a schoolgirl again. When she sat down on the couch next to Inuyasha to watch TV she even gave him a little peck on the cheek. He “Feh-ed” of course and called her a “sentimental wench”, but she didn't care at all.

 

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To see Kagome's dress you can go here:

http://www.dariuscordell.com/collection.htm

 

If the image doesn't come up then it's number 2103 in right hand column.

 

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