InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Dancing with Scissors ❯ A New Bedroom, Cards, and A Brief History of House Taisho ( Chapter 13 )

Rin was in her new room in the Taisho mansion, helping the housekeeper, Anita, put purple dragonfly sheets on the canopied bed. Her bedroom, twice as big as her old one on Third Street, was decorated to look like an enchanted forest, complete with murals of trees, woodland animals, and fairies. It had two closets, one full of her new toys, and its own bathroom. But her favorite thing about it was the play treehouse. When her grandmother asked her if she would like an actual treehouse in her new bedroom, Rin thought it was a joke. She could barely contain her excitement when the room was finished, and the treehouse was even better than she imagined it would be. It was made of real wood, reached up to the twelve-foot ceiling, had a ladder and a climbing rope, and was draped with gauzy, green silk voile, matching the canopy that floated around her bed.

 

Rin would sleep there for the first time that night and was a little nervous. She had spent the night away from home before, with her former downstairs neighbors and at Shippou's, but had always been in a sleeping bag next to her friend, not all alone. Kagome reassured her that it was fine if she needed her in the middle of the night; she was only a phone call and a two-minute walk away.

 

“There you go, sweetie,” Anita said, piling up pillows. She was quite charmed by this littlest Taisho and, despite evidence in the distinctive eyes, could hardly believe that the open, friendly child shared genes with her employers. She had worked for the Taishos for over twenty years, cooking and cleaning six days a week and knew them well. They were decent people, treating her with fairness and generosity, but she had never met such a screwed up family. Aloof and resentful with each other at times, sometimes smothering, they were never completely comfortable around one another. Anita was genuinely fond of the family and wished them the best, and she wondered if the honest little girl and her aunt would help finally sort them out.

 

Sesshoumaru quietly strode into his mother's newly finished attempt at winning Rin over. He knew she paid a team of muralists and carpenters a fortune to have the room ready as soon as possible and was pleased they decided to go with the Magical Forest theme over the Pink Princess theme, but couldn't help but notice that Rin's bedroom in the guest house had the child's personality written boldly on it; this room, while attractive, looked self-consciously pulled from the pages of a designer's portfolio. “Is it true what I've heard?” he asked, announcing his presence. “We're to have a new inhabitant in the house tonight?”

 

Rin launched herself at him. “Uncle Sesshoumaru!” He set his briefcase down quickly enough to catch her.

 

“Hello Anita. How was your day, Rin?”

 

“Good,” she nodded. “See my new room? It's so fancy! I'm gonna sleep here tonight.”

 

Mrs. Taisho rushed in, dressed in a navy Chanel skirt suit and fiddling with an earring. “Sesshoumaru, I'm so glad you're home. Will you walk Rin back to the guest house? I'm running late for a library board meeting. Anita, thank you, the room looks wonderful; I'll see you tomorrow morning.” She kissed Rin on the cheek. “Darling, I'll be home in plenty of time to tuck you into bed.”

 

Her son and granddaughter walked with her as far as the garage, said their goodbyes, then continued to the guest house, Rin chattering animatedly about her pillows and electric toothbrush.

 

Upon entering they were met with the delicious smell of roasting vegetables and thyme, and Sesshoumaru wondered with greedy curiosity what was in the oven.

 

Suddenly Rin was silent, her face frozen with alarm. “Kagome's sad,” she said and ran into her aunt's bedroom.

 

Kagome was sitting in bed next to a sleeping Oberon, laptop resting on her thighs, sobbing into a handkerchief. Rin climbed up and hugged her.

 

Kagome set the computer aside and drew the child into her lap. “Hi honey, I'm okay.” She smiled through tears. “I was catching up on some Shippuuden episodes I missed when we were moving. I just finished the one when Gaara dies.”

 

Rin hugged her hard. “Gaara dies?” she whispered with concern.

 

“Yeah. I already knew about it from the manga, and Chiyo-sama brings him back to life, but it was still sad.” She sniffed loudly.

 

Rin loosened her hold and looked over her shoulder at Sesshoumaru, standing in the doorway. “Gaara is Kagome's third favorite Naruto character,” she explained.

 

“Aaagghhh! Sesshoumaru…I didn't know you were standing there!” Kagome shrieked. She tried to laugh as nonchalantly as possible, while desperately stuffing plush Gaara and Kakashi under the blankets.

 

His single eyebrow, raised in amusement, made her squirm uncomfortably.

 

“I'm sorry, I didn't realize you were a twelve-year-old boy.” He had read just a few days ago in the business section about the continued popularity of Japanese manga and anime and its economic impact in North America in various areas of pop culture and the internet; the title Rin mentioned was one of the examples in the article.

 

“For your information,” Kagome said, “anime and manga have appeal that reaches far beyond the adolescent male demographic. Most of it is well done, some exceptionally so. Anime is the reason I hardly watch any normal television at all.”

 

“Hn.” He was obviously unconvinced and still highly entertained.

 

“Seriously. There are some that are simply outstanding. Intricate plots…characters developed with amazing depth.”

 

He said nothing in response, stooping to retrieve a fallen object from the wood floor. “Interesting.” The plush figure had long black hair and light purple eyes with no pupils.

 

“Give me Chibi Neji now.” She hoped the imperiousness of her glare reached Sesshoumaru-like gravity.

 

“What's wrong with her eyes?”

 

“His. Not a damn thing. Now gimme.”

 

He handed over the doll to its indignant owner, but couldn't resist needling. “So does this mean you are involved in cons and fanfiction as well?”

 

Kagome's mouth gaped; he was not completely ignorant on the subject. “Fanfiction?” she asked shrilly. “I'd never do anything that geeky.”

 

Rin had heard enough. Her father had frequently taunted Kagome about something called fanficiton and her writing of it a long time ago. “But Kag—”

 

Kagome, feeling like she was being attacked on two fronts, covered the girl's mouth as quickly and gently as possible to prevent her from saying anything else. “Rin, honey,” she said, “there's a new Ben and Jerry's flavor in the freezer. Why don't you go try it out?” Time to divide and conquer.

 

“Isn't it almost dinner time?” she asked suspiciously. Normally Kagome subscribed to her mother's belief that the spoilage of appetite was to be avoided at all costs.

 

“Oh…go ahead. A little won't hurt.”

 

Rin wouldn't argue with that. She ran out of the room, leaving Kagome self-consciously sitting on her bed as Sesshoumaru leaned against the door jamb and observed her, eyebrow still quirked.

 

She couldn't take the silence and his mocking gaze and reverted to her usual behavior of When in Doubt, Talk. “Sooo…yeah. I watch a lot of anime. You should give it a try, before you go making fun of me. Ooo, there's one that I bet you'd like. The setting is an incredibly complex, well-imagined world, about two brothers, with a beautiful musical leitmotif…I know you'd enjoy it.”

 

Rin stomped into the room, wearing an expression of irritation far more like Sesshoumaru's than anything Kagome could hope to muster. “Kagome! Chubby Hubby is NOT a new flavor! You're a liar pants. And I know you write fanfiction too.”

 

Kagome buried her face in her hands. “Okay, fine, you've busted me,” she grumbled, raising her now bright-red face. “I wrote fanfiction obsessively my junior year of college.” She sighed with resignation, not meaning to include that adverb. The admission, once begun, blossomed into a full-blown confession. “Obsessively is the operative word. It started out innocently enough…but kinda took over my life. It was so bad I stopped sleeping and bathing and…going to class. If it weren't for Kikyou I probably would have ended up on academic probation or flunked out.”

 

“Did Mommy pretend she was you?” Rin liked the idea of her mother saving Kagome and had a vision of them trading places with each other.

 

“No sweetie, your Mommy would never have done something unethical like that. Not that I didn't beg her. She cyber-nannied me…installed filtering software on my computer, but instead of blocking out porn, she did it so I couldn't access anything remotely related to fanfiction. Your mom could be a real buzzkill sometimes. But she saved me. I was extremely grateful, once I stopped throwing temper tantrums and went through withdrawal.”

 

Rin wasn't exactly sure what it was that her mother had done, but it seemed good.

 

Sesshoumaru shook his head with condescension.

 

“Hey! Don't judge. It's true I went a little overboard, but at my peak, I was pretty good. I played exclusively in the Buffyverse, all AU, mostly Spike and Angel slash, but they weren't my OTP or anything. To paraphrase Frank Booth from Blue Velvet `I'll `ship anything that moves!' I put Buffy and Drusilla together…Buffy and Faith…Buffy and Giles. Buffy was always the sub. Those were primarily PWP one-shots. My favorite was a multi-chapter darkfic set in a dungeon featuring Spike and Angel doing lots of tasty noncon things to each other. They pretty much alternated playing the seme…equal opportunity and all…and occasionally Wesley would make an appearance and get tortured. I had a reputation for having no squicks at all, but I'm not sure it was all that deserved. The worst flames I got were for the time I wrote Angel with an addiction to Cordelia's menstrual blood, obtained straight from the source.”

 

Sesshoumaru's patronizing disbelief morphed into revulsion. Though she was speaking English, he understood only a small portion of her monologue and was moderately grateful that most of it was incomprehensible to him; the woman had just taken a giant step backward in his estimation.

 

Kagome, if she even noticed his disgust, was not fazed. “So I don't read it or anything anymore. Though I'm a little tempted to come out of my forced retirement and dance around the world of Naruto fanfic. Neji Hyuga and Itachi Uchiha would be perfect residents of my dungeon.” She chuckled wickedly.

 

Rin understood even less of Kagome's fanfiction tale than her uncle did. She also knew he didn't like the conversation. A change of subject was necessary. “Do you want to stay for dinner with us?” Rin asked hopefully.

 

“You're welcome to stay.” Kagome added. “I've got ratatouille in the oven. There's a movie with the same name coming out in a few days, and I thought Rin would appreciate it more if she knew what the title referenced.”

 

Sesshoumaru looked into the hopeful, golden eyes and, hating to disappoint his niece, briefly considered changing his plans, but he had been looking forward to going to the dojo all day. “Not today, Rin. I'm just stopping by to drop something off for your grandfather, but I'll look in on you when I come back.”

 

She seemed placated for the moment and asked, “Will you read to me tonight?”

 

“I think I may be home too late for that, but I'll come in and kiss you goodnight.”

 

Rin smiled. “Even if I'm asleep?”

 

“I promise.”

 

After he left, Rin asked, “Can I still have ice cream now?”

 

Kagome snorted, but rubbed the child's head affectionately. “No way, you little traitor. After dinner.”

 

XxXxX

 

“Good night, young lady,” Ken Taisho told Rin as she kissed his cheek.

 

“Good night, Grandfather,” the girl replied. “Night night, Kagome.”

 

Kagome knelt down and hugged Rin tightly. “Good night, dear one. I'll see you in the morning.” She stood and wiped at teary eyes. “And remem—”

 

“Don't worry, Kagome,” Mrs. Taisho interrupted gently. “Rin will be fine, but if there's a problem, we promise to call you.” Kagome had given them her cell number at least four times that evening and was visibly anxious about Rin's first night in the mansion.

 

Kagome took a deep breath. “Thanks.” She knew she was overreacting, that once Rin was comfortable sleeping next door, she could begin to do something with her stagnant social life, but the feeling of being left behind was unshakeable. “I'm just being silly.” She watched Rin and her grandmother walk out of Mrs. Taisho's well-apportioned sitting room hand-in-hand, leaving her alone with Mr. Taisho.

 

He looked at her with a bored expression, slightly curled upper lip indicating annoyance, reminding her very much of Sesshoumaru's face earlier that day when she was babbling about fanfiction, right before she offended him.

 

“So…nice weather we've had so far this summer. With July around the corner though, I'm sure it won't last.” She groaned at her lame attempt at conversation.

 

“Hn.”

 

The typical male Taisho noncommittal response. “Rin seems happy here,” Kagome said. “Inuyasha would be glad. Though I have to say…you really don't need to buy her any more toys. She would much rather you just play with her with the ones she already has.”

 

Mr. Taisho narrowed his eyes at hearing the name of his younger son, and past regrets stabbed at his efforts to repress. The mini-lecture about child-rearing didn't help, though recalling his sons' childhoods, he knew she was correct. He had to admit, he was curious about this young woman standing awkwardly next to him. She possessed insight into the last years of Inuyasha's life, years that, due to his stubbornness, were lost to him and his wife. “Cribbage?” he asked.

 

Kagome recognized a disguised olive branch when one was offered. She had meant to spend the night working on designs, but this suddenly seemed far more important. “I'd love to.”

 

She followed him into the neighboring library, a huge room with shelves of books lining nearly every bit of wall. They sat on a pair of leather armchairs with a round, low table between them, and Mr. Taisho took a deck of cards from the interior of the cribbage board. They silently cut to determine the first deal; it went to Kagome. She shuffled, expertly her opponent noted, and dealt six cards to each.

 

As they studied the hands dealt, Ken said, “You mentioned earlier that Inuyasha taught you this game. I hadn't realized he still played.”

 

Kagome turned her gaze from her cards to her best friend's father, seated across from her. Inuyasha had spoken of his father with a mixture of sadness, hostility, and love. She knew they had a complicated relationship and wished to know more, but wouldn't pry. “Yeah. He had incredible luck at cards, didn't he? More often than not I found myself salting his crib.”

 

Mr. Taisho laid down two cards, well aware that he was probably doing the same thing for Kagome. “Yes, he was uncommonly lucky at cards,” he agreed dryly, remembering Inuyasha's trademark reaction to a good hand. “Did he still do that despicable, gloating gesture with his arm?”

 

“The celebratory fist pump? Yeah, every time,” she laughed. She laid down two cards and waited for Mr. Taisho to cut. “He always said some of his favorite memories were playing cards with you late at night, and how you'd lose track of time and suddenly smell breakfast being prepared. He said whenever he'd smell bacon and pancakes, he'd think of sitting with you, playing cards together.”

 

A look of incredible sadness and longing flickered on the older man's face. It was brief, but Kagome was sure she'd seen it. “Thank you, Miss Higurashi.”

 

He cut, and Kagome turned up the Jack of Hearts. “Nobs!” she called happily, moving her peg forward one. “And it's Ms. Higurashi.”

 

He exhaled sharply, but Kagome could tell he was fighting a smile.

 

The game was close, with the participants talking little beyond the counting required for the game, though they seemed perfectly relaxed with each other. In the end Ken won, but only because he had first count. “Two out of three?” Kagome challenged playfully.

 

Ken stared at her a moment. It was rare that anyone spoke to him in such a manner, but he didn't find her familiarity as insulting as he would have expected.

 

“Several years ago, my physician forced…lifestyle changes on me,” he said with a slight sneer. “One of the few pleasures I have left is a single glass of red wine in the evening. Can I interest you in a Bordeaux?”

 

Kagome hoped her surprised smile didn't come across as over-eager. “Yes, please. And thank you.”

 

XxXxX

 

Sesshoumaru arrived back home exhausted, but at peace. He attended the regular practice session at the Kendo dojo and stayed through the advanced practice. Matsumoto Sensei had been extremely demanding, and now he looked forward to a shower and a good night's sleep.

 

He grabbed himself a bourbon and branch on the way up to his rooms, but did a double take as he passed the library. His father and Kagome were bent over a table, apparently playing cards. The woman's cheery laughter tinkled, answered by his father's deep chuckle. It was a sound he hadn't heard in years.

 

XxXxX

 

Kagome and Rose Taisho were seated together on a bench at a neighborhood park keeping watchful eyes on Rin, who had just sped off to the playground. It was Friday afternoon, and Kagome was basking in the sun, trying to control her excitement at the prospect of going out drinking and dancing with her friends later that night. Rin's first and second nights under the Taisho roof had gone smoothly, and the idea of letting out some of the stress of the past month thrilled her.

 

“Oh you don't know how young that darling girl makes me feel,” Mrs. Taisho sighed.

 

“Reliving your childhood?” Kagome asked.

 

“Reliving my twenties, more correctly. Really belatedly living them at all. I was rather absent through most of my sons' early years,” she confided. “I'm not certain how much Inuyasha told you of his youth and our family, but often it was hardly ideal.”

 

Kagome listened patiently. Where Mr. Taisho was reticent, Mrs. Taisho seemed dying to confide in someone.

 

“You were close to Inuyasha, and now because of Rin, you are almost a member of the family. I don't aim to make excuses for my behavior, but I feel some explanation is necessary.”

 

“Mrs. Taisho, you owe me nothing, but I'll gladly hear anything you wish to share.”

 

The older woman picked apart a fraying hem of her silk shirt. “I grew up in Seattle, second generation, a somewhat coddled, very pressured musical prodigy. When I was twenty, I toured and had a series of concerts here. After a performance, I received two dozen red roses in my hotel room from a gentleman who asked in the attached note if I could possibly meet him.” She paused, smiling in remembrance. “Ken Taisho was a handsome, charming, older man. It wasn't as if I had a miserable existence that I was anxious to escape. It wasn't like that at all. Simply…the romance…he swept me off my feet. We were engaged within three days and married a month later. I suddenly moved away from my family, into a strange city, abandoning everything I had known. Ken was wonderful at first, but he was incredibly driven to succeed and worked fourteen hours a day. The loneliness was nearly intolerable, but I became pregnant within the first year and had something to look toward.”

 

“Sesshoumaru?”

 

Rose Taisho nodded wistfully. “He was the perfect child. Easy birth, easy baby. I don't know if I've ever been so happy. Just me and my precious infant…all loneliness gone. Inuyasha couldn't have been more different.” She took a tissue from her purse. “Sesshoumaru was two when I became pregnant. He was so excited to be a big brother. Oh, Kagome, if you could have seen him then…he was simply an angel. Well, in my thirty-third week I developed high blood pressure and assorted nasty conditions and was hospitalized on strict bed rest. Toxemia they called it back then; now I believe the preferred term is pre-eclampsia. It was horrible being separated from Sesshoumaru. Ken brought him to visit every day, and I knew he tried to be brave, but my poor, little boy was scared.”

 

She dabbed at her eyes, then noticed Kagome also was tearing up and fished another tissue from her purse. Kagome took it gratefully.

 

“I became very ill, and the doctors decided the baby's lungs were developed enough, so I was induced. After enduring long hours of miserable labor, I ended up with a Caesarean Section. Inuyasha was a small, sick, high-strung baby…and I loved him to pieces. He needed me. He had terrible colic, crying for hours, frequently all night long. The sleepless nights put a strain on the family, and the jealousy that was completely normal for Sesshoumaru to feel was exacerbated by his own and his father's tired crankiness. Both of them are frightfully bearish when not getting enough sleep,” she smiled.

 

Kagome smiled back. “Must be genetic. Rin's like that too.”

 

“We adjusted and some order emerged from the chaos,” she continued. “It helped a lot when Inuyasha started crying less. The light at the end of the tunnel, perhaps? And then…I don't know the reason…the rug was pulled out from under me. At the time, had I known what postpartum depression was, I would have sought out help. All I knew was I felt like a failure. I had no energy, no appetite. I couldn't care for the children. Ken still worked long hours and didn't realize the extent of the problem. When the boys were two and five, I became pregnant again and thought I would be fine. The depression disappeared, and I got my life back. The relationship between the brothers wasn't very good—Inuyasha was an extreme pest, and Sesshoumaru had no tolerance for his brother, but I began to intervene when they fought, easing some of the tension between the two and teaching them how to get along.” She paused. “Then I miscarried.”

 

Kagome put her hand on the older woman's shaking ones. “I'm so sorry. That must have been horrible.”

 

Mrs. Taisho wiped at tears that flowed down her beautiful, disconsolate face. “Losing the baby was bad. The depression afterward was worse. I couldn't get out of bed for days on end. The boys would fight, Ken would come home furious to find things broken or the umpteenth nanny quit, and I couldn't do anything about it. The guilt was terrible, but it just made me withdraw even more. Depression, once one starts sinking, is a difficult hole to dig out of.”

 

“That's putting it mildly,” Kagome, possessing plenty of personal experience, said softly.

 

“After years of unhappiness, Ken thought perhaps it would be easier for me if I had fewer things to worry about. Things being the children. Inuyasha was bright, but did terribly in school—acted out, wouldn't sit still, got in fights.”

 

“He told me about that a little,” Kagome commented. “Too bad his dyslexia hadn't been caught sooner.”

 

“Yes…so much pain would have been avoided. Well, as I said, Ken decided to lighten the load on my nerves. Inuyasha was too young, only seven, and really no one would have accepted him, so Ken instead sent Sesshoumaru to boarding school.”

 

“That's a bit drastic, isn't it?” Kagome asked, somewhat shocked.

 

Rose smiled ruefully. “He thought he was doing the right thing. I knew he was mistaken, but in those years I had no self-confidence and was incapable of questioning his decisions. My husband, you see, is of the variety of men who fully support patriarchy. His word is law. Or at least was back then. Sesshoumaru, of course, didn't want to go…thought he was being punished for Inuyasha's behavior. But he was a very responsible child, and he thought if he left, I would get better.”

 

Kagome looked stricken. “Poor little guy.” Her own tears began to drip.

 

“I felt horribly guilty about it. He left, and I didn't get better. Worse actually. I was thirty-one years old…wasted my musical talents to become a mother, a career at which I'd failed abjectly. When Inuyasha was twelve, I hit rock bottom. My husband, like I suspect many men, is very good at ignoring things that he doesn't understand, but there comes a point when denial is impossible. I finally was treated by a very patient psychologist, and after a year and a half I was myself again. Unfortunately the damage to my family was done. Sesshoumaru was excelling at a prestigious preparatory academy, and though he came home for summers and holidays, he had grown apart from us and had no intention of returning. Inuyasha was completely out of control. He was always in trouble and had absolutely no respect for anyone, which angered his father like nothing else.”

 

“I bet,” Kagome said. “The patriarchal types don't care much for back talk from the kids.”

 

Rose shuddered. “They had epic battles. The diagnosis of Inuyasha's learning disability calmed things a bit…he stopped misbehaving for the most part and performed well in school, but by then he had no intentions of doing anything his father suggested. When he changed his major from business to political science, Ken took it as a personal insult. His marriage to your sister, despite our pleas to wait, was the last straw. Ken forbade any communication, and I believe you know the rest.”

 

Kagome did indeed know the rest, she'd been a listening ear and a shoulder to cry on for years. “It hurt him a lot. But the worst was Mr. Taisho's heart attack. Sesshoumaru called to tell him three days after it happened. And when he went to the hospital, he wasn't on the list of relatives and was refused entrance. Why?”

 

“My husband is a proud, stubborn man. He really believed he and Inuyasha would reunite one day, but he couldn't stand to think his estranged son would see him in his moment of weakness. Foolish, isn't it?”

 

Kagome thought about Inuyasha's worry and grief when his father had his heart attack. Kikyou was pregnant, and he thought his relationship with his parents would finally be fixed. Instead it worsened. “Ah…yeah.”

 

“Now, of course, we would change almost everything of the past fifteen years, but alas…our only option is regret. And a promise to do better by Rin. To pour into her the love I should have given my sons.”

 

Kagome blew her nose. “Inuyasha knew you loved him. He was full of regret as well.”

 

Mrs. Taisho's sighed cathartically. “So now you know the sad story of my fractured family. I'm not trying to excuse how we treated each other; I just hope you understand a little. And perhaps understand why we tried to get guardianship of Rin. There was nothing personal against you, only a misguided desire to ameliorate the wrongs of the past. Kagome, I'm truly sorry for putting you through all that, and thank you, for giving us a chance.”

 

Instead of answering, Kagome put her arms around the other woman, and they embraced tightly. All they have left is to forgive each other, Kagome thought sadly.

 

“Now I just need to focus on getting Sesshoumaru settled down,” Rose said, lightening the mood. “He's got a date a tonight… lovely young woman, a financial planner, daughter of one of the women with whom I play bridge.”

 

“I was wondering if he had a life outside his office,” Kagome remarked.

 

“Not much of one,” she said with disdain. “Hopefully that will change soon. I've been trying to get him together with Kagura for years now, but he never seems to appreciate my efforts. I wish he weren't so stubborn; they would make a lovely couple.”

 

Kagome hadn't paid much attention to Kagura the night she had her meltdown at the restaurant—her wrath had been directed elsewhere. But she remembered Kagura was beautiful and glamorous and fit into the world the Taishos inhabited perfectly. The feeling of outsider status was quickly banished when she reminded herself that she would be out with her friends later that night.

 

“Shall we see if Rin is ready to go? I've got a nail appointment in half an hour.” They stood. “Kagome, thank you again. You've been a good listener. I can see why Inuyasha loved you so much. I'm glad he had you.”

 

Kagome blinked back tears. It was a wonderful thing to hear. “You're welcome.”

 

XxXxX

 

Sesshoumaru and his date made their way through the pressing throng. He would have preferred a place less loud and crowded, but his date wanted to go clubbing, and this was the city's newest, trendiest offering. As they approached the bar, he saw a woman wearing a short, backless black dress, showing off the graceful curve of her spine and her incredible, toned, long legs. She turned abruptly, almost dumping her drink on him.

 

“Shit! Sorry!” She looked up. “Damn, what a coincidence!”

 

Naturally it was Kagome.

 

@@@

 

I do not own Inuyasha, nor can I claim Chanel, any Ben and Jerry's flavors, Naruto or any of its characters, Blue Velvet or its characters, nor any created by Joss Whedon. Thank you so much for reading.