InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Double or Nothing: Take the Money & Run ❯ Chitty Chitty Bang Bang ( Chapter 9 )

Chapter Nine:

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

 

Kagome sat under the Jeep questioning the direction of her life, wondering just where everything had gone so wrong.  What am I doing here, hiding under a Jeep like a dog? Even worse than the gunshots was the knowledge that if she survived, how was she going to explain this to her mother?

 

The gunshots temporarily ceased but it was too soon to credit this to Inuyasha. What the hell is going on?

The ground was cold, hard and dirty with grease and other unpleasant smells. This sucks. Kagome decided to test her luck. She pulled off her shoe and rolled it out from under the Jeep. It hadn't even come to a complete stop before it was riddled with four bullet holes.

Okay…so he was right. This is so bad… Not only am I stuck under here with only one shoe, some asshole is still shooting at me. She was pissed, she loved those sneakers and somehow she knew that bullet holes weren't something she could have repaired down at Al's shoe repair. She prayed that Inuyasha would find this guy and be quick about it.

 

Desperate for some kind of distraction Kagome began listing other jobs she be doing right now, the kind where no one would shoot at her. There was Hooters waitress, Hot Rod girl, shoe shiner, Mary Kay consultant, door to door vacuum salesperson, dog walker,  or hell even an exotic dancer, why not after last night she should be used to being naked.  

Kagome's stomach twisted and she knew that could never be an option. She'd eat Bartleby's kibble first. The sad thing was she wasn't too far from that now.  Oh hell, it doesn't matter. This is my new calling; I just need to learn the ropes…a bit or maybe a lot. She'd be lucky if she didn't get killed.

Kagome studied the ground around the Jeep for signs of anyone walking by but there was nothing. She heard the rumble of passing traffic but no footsteps. Christ! What is taking that pea brained, dog eared idiot so long? Knowing him, he's probably just ditched me.

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Twenty minutes later, Kagome was still under the Jeep and staring dejectedly at her ruined shoe. Only her abject fear was keeping her from falling into a sound sleep. She was surprised how boring hiding from a gunman could be. They don't show this part in the movies. She made the mistake of lying near an ant pile and while they were interesting to watch she hoped they wouldn't decide to climb down her shirt or up her pant legs. Her arms began to itch and she couldn't tell if it was real or imagined. Oh Gods, oh Gods, oh Gods … please don't let the ants get into my pants…wait, that was almost funny.

A pair of pristine black high topped sneaker stepped into her line of vision. “So Babe is the view down there good or did you just need a nap?”

Koga!  Kagome hissed up to him. “Hey watch out! Someone was shooting at me. They might still be out here!”

He knelt down beside the Jeep and hung his head over the side. His pony tail almost brushed the asphalt, “Good one, guess I had that coming. Need help getting up?” Koga flashed a white grin.

She rolled her eyes at the sight of his fangs. I'm so sick of these holier than thou yokai I could scream.  “I'm not kidding. There is or was a sniper! Don't you smell the gun powder or something?” Kagome's head began to pound and she pressed the pads of her index and middle finger to her temples. Gods, I need a drink.

Koga explained, ”I recognized the obvious scent of gunfire but it always smells that way over here. After sunset this is a nasty side of town.” He sniffed and noticed she was right; the burnt gun powder was fresh.

Her arms ached from lying on the cold concrete parking lot. Kagome rubbed life back into them while checking for ant bites. She was afraid to lift her head too high lest she crack it against the undercarriage of the Jeep.  “Check out my sneaker! And the white van…its windows were shot out.”

Koga picked up the shoe and frowned. It was torn into two pieces from the gun fire. “Babe, this ain't cool.” He wasn't afraid but he was uncomfortable and he didn't like it.

“Tell me about it.” She grumbled. “If it weren't for Inuyasha they would've had me too.”

“Inuyasha was here?” Koga decided to be sarcastically unhelpful, “You do know you are supposed to catch him right? I did go over that with you during our impromptu skip tracing 101 class yesterday.”

“Shut the hell up stupid wolf and help me up.” Kagome slid across the ground on her belly.

 

Koga laughed and offered her his hand. “Now that I can do.”

He pulled her to her feet and Kagome began dusting herself off. Koga leaned against the Jeep on one elbow. “So where'd he go?”

“The sniper?” She'd just been wondering the same thing.

“No Dog Turd.”

Kagome pointed to the gym across the street. “He thought the gunman was over there so he went to stop him.”

Koga sighed and shook his head. “So that's what he told you before he ran off?”

She considered this, “But we've no proof he didn't actually help me. Besides did you catch that guy who had the crowbar?”

He nodded, “Of course I did.” Duh!

Kagome pushed, “And?”

“And he was paid by some guy with long white hair fifty bucks to screw with the Jeep. He had no idea what was going on, he was a crack addict and they'd do anything for easy cash.” Koga narrowed his eyes at her leaving no doubts as to who he thought the long haired individual was. It made sense after all whose Jeep had she stolen?

“But that doesn't make sense! There was gunfire!” Why would Inuyasha risk getting shot at if he sat the whole scene up? And didn't he save her? As much as she hated him and really wanted to wrap her fingers around his windpipe and squeeze, she was forced to admit he had saved her. Maybe Sesshomaru was to blame and not Inuyasha. Ack! Baka ass! Why was she defending him in her head?

Koga commented dryly, “What doesn't make sense is why anyone would waste their time shooting at you. Babe, you're a crappy skip tracer.”

Kagome look up at his serious expression and all the events of the past twenty four hours came crashing down on her shoulders. She broke down under the pressure and burst into quiet tears. Koga panicked at the sight of her sniffling. “It's not that bad…”

She glared at him and he knew he was so far from helping he'd been better of not saying anything at all. He, an ex mercenary though he'd never easily admit it, was upset by the sight of a woman's tears? When had he gone soft? “You'll get better; after all you have me to help you.” Why am I offering my time so freely?

 

Koga stifled a grin, who knew maybe he'd just get lucky? He could do with some recreation and after last night he knew she was his type: curvy, naked and interesting.

Kagome shot back, “You're not very helpful!” She saw the light change in his eyes and knew what direction his thoughts had traveled.

He pointed a clawed forefinger at her chest. “That's not how you felt last night.”

Kagome's eyes flashed and the stream of tears turned into a waterfall. Koga scratched his head. Shit! What was he going to do with her now?

 

He thought quickly and remembered when he'd explored her apartment while she was still asleep, he'd noticed her tiny fridge was empty except for three cans of expired Slim Fast; liquid chocolate chalk, the breakfast of champions. “Let me make this up to ya. How about some breakfast on me?”

“Does this mean I get to throw eggs at you?” She asked softly with great hope. Scrambled, poached, fried or raw, she was dying to nail him point blank in the kisser.


Damn woman! Hasn't anyone explain the element of surprise to her? “No, but I'd be willing to grab some coffee and doughnuts.” Koga offered, knowing she was serious about the eggs.

Kagome's pout was ruined by a loud growl from her belly. He leaned down and picked up the distributor cap and keys. “The stomach has spoken. Let's roll!”

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The hot doughnuts were even better than she'd imagined. Of course their goodness was accentuated by the fact she'd come so very close to never having another doughnut ever again. She unabashedly licked the warm icing from her fingers while she pretended Koga wasn't watching her every movement. Much to her disgust he'd only ordered a cup of hot green tea.

When she asked what he had against the simple pleasure of hot, frosted, fried rings of dough, he'd answered, “The body is a temple, not a junkyard.”

Kagome shrugged, “Life is too short to miss out on the good stuff.”

Koga shrugged, “Yeah, but then your body is more of a thrift shop than a junk yard. You could use a doughnut or ten.”

“Are you accusing me of being too skinny?” Kagome waited, and Koga realized he'd stumbled into the hostile territory of a woman's weight where there was no safe return.

“Nahh, but you've already subjected it to so much abusive junk food I don't think you could live without it. If you went off junk food cold turkey you'd die.”

Kagome smiled, “Yeah, you're probably right.”

He hid his great relief and continued “If you expect to make it in this field you are going to have to rethink your exercise and dietary habits.”

She shot him a look chocked full of angry daggers, “Koga if you take my doughnuts away I might just have to shoot you.”

Koga gave her a blank look then broke out into soft laughter, “The way you shoot I'm not worried.”

 

Kagome bit into a fresh doughnut and decided to ignore that statement. There were only so many times she could get pissed off before 11 am.

”So Babe, what's the game plan?” Koga wondered if she was okay after her first experience of getting shot at. Not that being on the wrong end of a gun ever got easier with experience but the first time was always the hardest.

 

She sighed, “I guess I should check in with Myoga but I'd like to pick up my car. It's probably on the verge of being towed.”

 

“So where's it at?”

 

Kagome spoke around a mouthful of sweet, fried dough. “Barney's Pawn and Tanning.”

 

Koga frowned and shook his head, “What the hell were you doing out there?” He put up his hand. “Wait! On second thought I don't want to know.”

 

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They hid the Jeep behind a large gray dumpster on the back of a construction site. Koga drove a BMW X5 SUV. Like everything else he owned it was black and outfitted in plush leather. Kagome rode shotgun with him to the pawnshop.

 

Because it was still before noon the pawn shop was empty. Apparently the financially desperate and destitute like to sleep in. Kagome was insanely jealous.

 

The two toned 1985 323 Mazda stood unmolested perfectly parallel parked right where she'd left it yesterday. That should have been her first clue that something was terribly wrong.

 

Kagome pushed her key into the lock of the car door. She turned the key and heard the familiar click of the lock. It was followed by a suspicious SNAP!

 

Her first thought was that her key had just broken off in her lock. Oh course it did, perfect ending to a perfect morning… She pulled the key back and that's when it happened.

 

The blast was so loud it'd be days before her ears stopped ringing.

 

An orange flash of hot fire erupted inside the car and the door flew open striking Kagome across the forehead. She was thrown backwards into the air by the sheer force of the blow.

 

The little two door car was a furnace of billowing flames. The heat was a living being whose fingers brushed Kagome's face as the rotten smell of burning plastic and rubber filled her nostrils.

 

The world flew around her in slow motion. The car shook as she struck the cold pavement. Kagome lay in the middle of the street on her back not quite sure how she'd gotten there.

 

The last thing to register in her head was the sounds of her windows exploding in the metal frame of the car doors. Powdered auto glass coated the ground around her in an iridescent sheen.

 

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Notes: Sorry for the late update, I've messed up my shoulder somehow and I'm typing slowly these days but this too shall pass and soon things will get back to normal.