InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Everlong ❯ The Lady or the Tiger? ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter 2 -The Lady or the Tiger

-The Grave Robber-

"I know that look. You're brooding. Brooding, again. Inuyasha, is that the only think you do? Brood brood brood."

I rolled my eyes, stabbing at my food rather violently with my fork and ignoring Sango's distraught expression. What the hell was wrong with brooding, anyway? I'm the boss around here. If I want to brood, then I'll brood.

I raised my gaze to glare at Sango, who sighed as she took a seat across from me. Come on now, can't a guy brood in peace? "Nah, sometimes I grimly contemplate, but rarely with an audience."

She scoffed, leaning one elbow on the metallic surface of the table. Ah, the mess tent. You know, living in the dense forests of Japan really is the lap of luxury. "What's the matter now? Is it that time of the month again?"

I scowled, glancing out the screened window to my right. The moon was high and just barely a sliver of silver was showing. Last night had been hell, but now I was safe for another month. "Not even close," I chided. "You know that." I smiled slightly at that thought. Sango did know that. She was one of the few people I really trusted. I don't know what I would have done if she hadn't been on the project with me. Keeping up my stern, demanding, not nonsense front all day was exhausting, but it was the only way I could get my staff to respect me when I was close to a decade younger than many of them. It was a huge relief to be able to relax a little when it was just Sango and I. Just her being there was proof of our close friendship - she knew that I would retreat to the dining tent at odd hours of the night to stuff my face whenever I had to think.

"Yes, I do know that. So, what's wrong?" she said.

I shrugged. When Sango was feeling nosy, resistance was futile, but I had to at least try to protect my privacy. I raised my eyebrows innocently. "Nothing's wrong."

"I know something's wrong," she said sternly. "You've got that way about you."

I took a large bite of my steak, my words muffled as I swallowed it without chewing. "What way?"

She smiled affectionately, leaning her chin on her open palm. "When your eyebrows scrunch together and your lower lip pulls up and your jaw sets and you sit all rigid and straight-backed like an agitated cat."

I wrinkled my nose disdainfully. "I hate cats." I sighed, knowing she would not be swayed from her interrogation. "Kaede called last night."

Sango stood, moving to the cabinet and pulling out a glass. "She calls all the time."

"I know, but this time…" I watched her distractedly as she poured herself a glass of water. "She's sending me a new assistant."

Sango turned her head to look at me as she snapped the lid back on the water jug, returning it to the refrigerator. "Well, that's good, right? You fired your last one this week, and it's clear that Miroku and I can't handle all of the administrative work ourselves."

I nodded grimly, picking up a packet I had been studying earlier from the chair next to me and sliding it across the table when Sango took her seat again. "I guess… look at this though. Kaede faxed it to me today. It's the profile of Higurashi Kagome."

Sango frowned thoughtfully, scanning the first page and reading aloud. "Nineteen years old… degrees in feudal studies and ancient lore… certified excavator." She glanced up at me curiously. "What's the matter? She sounds like she could be a great help. She's better educated than you are."

I made a face, slumping back in my chair and blowing a few silvery bangs out of my eyes. "Nineteen years old with two degrees? How could she manage that?"

Sango shrugged slightly. "My guess is she's somewhat like you."

My eyebrows narrowed suspiciously as I growled. "Like me how?"

"A prodigy."

"I'm not a prodigy," I snapped, turning my face away from her with a huff. "I'm a professional."

Even from the corner of my eye I could see the amused smile light up her face. "Yes sir, forgive me my most insulting mistake." She shook her head, tapping the table lightly with her fingernails. "Well, I don't see what you're all worked up about. It seems to me that the worst thing that could result from this Kagome joining us would be you guys fighting over who gets to be king of the hill." She laughed. "I mean… really…wha…"

I blinked, turning back as her words abruptly trailed off. She had flipped the page and was now gazing somberly at a large photograph of my new assistant.

"Whoa…I see…" she commented in monotone. "Ouch. It sure seems like Kaede is trying to throw salt in your wounds, eh?"

I exhaled slowly, letting my chin drop into my folded arms, which were resting on the table. "Throwing salt was just sending me that picture. Sending that girl here… that's rubbing in the salt and sealing it with lemon juice."

A low whistle sounding behind Sango's back startled both of us. "Helllll-o there. Who is that worthy member of the species?"

Sango glanced at me sympathetically before turning to greet Miroku. Miroku and Sango were my two closest friends from college. When I had been offered my own project, they had left school to come with me into the woods. Sango was training to be a cop so she was head of security, and Miroku was hoping to be a priest some day, if he could some how manage to overcome his lecherous tendencies. Bringing a holy guy along was largely to appease the natives, who for some crazy reason weren't all too excited about our weeding through their ancestors' remains without any kind of ceremony. "This is Inuyasha's new second in command," Sango explained.

Miroku grinned broadly, turning a chair around so he could straddle the backrest, on which he settled his elbows. "Well, I gotta hand it to you, Yash-man, you sure know how to pick 'em!" He scratched his head thoughtfully. "Although, this does seem a little like déjà vu."

I snarled, snatching the papers back and stuffing them in my briefcase. "I don't know what Kaede was thinking."

Sango nervously chewed on her lower lip. "Do you think she's testing you?"

"Of course she's testing me," I hissed through clenched teeth. "But this is a fucking horrible time for it. Our funding is on the line. I have to find something to show the board fast." I didn't know what Kaede was trying to pull, but it infuriated me. I'd never understood why she, my advisor, always seemed to want to challenge me instead of help me.

"Well, let's try to look on the bright side, ne?" Sango tried her best to muster up some cheer. "Kagome is definitely qualified for this profession. I'm sure she has every intention of coming here to get work done. Maybe she'll be what we need to snap the final few pieces of the puzzle in place."

"Besides," Miroku drawled. "You've been… pent up… for months, Inuyasha. Maybe a pretty lady around here is really what you need."

Sango did not let that one slide.

***

-The Tree Hugger-

I love the forest, I really do. Of course, if you want to be a professional environmentalist, you need to have some appreciation for nature. However, with the bright, warm, cozy dorm room I left behind in mind, perhaps you can understand why my arrival at Inuyasha's post depressed me somewhat.

It was just after before sunrise, and the fog over the forest floor was still thick. I had had to wake up while the stars were still out, and board a beat up old jeep for the three hour drive into the forest. I stretched my limbs painfully now, grimly aware of the growing bruises I had accumulated from the rough ride.

I surveyed my surroundings warily, shifting my overstuffed duffle from one shoulder to the other. The place looked like something straight out of M*A*S*H, all large canvas tents and hastily constructed wooden buildings. Judging by how many huge cargo trucks were scattered around, I discerned that the entire setup could be packed up and transplanted elsewhere.

I took a deep breath, exhaling slowly as I just stood there, amazed at how busy the place already was before the sun had even fully risen. Dozens of people were milling about, moving boxes, discussing work with each other, racing between tents… it was a little overwhelming. I was definitely not a morning person, and it looked as if that was going to have to change. I remained where I was, still and nervous, with just the mist separating my next three months and me.

~~~

I was small, maybe two and half years old, and everything else always seemed so big. The wooden table and chairs in our kitchen towered over me, and the trees surrounding the soft green grass in our back yard stood like colossal turrets stretching up to the sky.

I had just woken up, still in my pink flannel pajamas. I pressed my hands and nose against the cool glass of our French doors in the kitchen that opened onto our patio. When you're that young, everything is amazing. Everything in the house and the surrounding grounds that made up my entire world was mine to wonder at. Currently I was transfixed by the round beads of condensation as they chased each other down the window pane in front of my wide eyes.

My gaze was drawn out further to the grey clouds floating so close to my swing set, thick and opaque. "Mama…" I asked incredulously. "What's all that smoky stuff?"

My mother was a beautiful woman; tall and slender with straight, silky black hair that hung low to the small of her back. Sometimes I would crawl into her bed, after my dad had gone to work and she still lay half asleep, and I would run my hands through her waterfall of tresses, or curl up close to her chest and let her hair fan out around us like a dark curtain.

She smiled slightly, looking up from the dishes she was washing to glance out the small window over the sink. "That's fog, Kagome-chan."

I blinked at the new and funny word. "Fog?" I repeated with a small giggle. "What is it? What is it doing?"

My mother laughed, turning the faucet off and drying her soft hands with a pale green dishtowel, before crossing the room to kneel next to me on the cool tile floor. "Fog is the blanket of the Earth. Just like you have your soft grey bunny blanket on your bed. Fog keeps the ground warm in the morning, when it's still too cold for you to go outside and play on it." She pulled me into her lap, resting her chin on the top of my head gently as I began to suck idly on my thumb. "And you know what else, Kagome-chan?" she murmured, the soft vibration in her throat tickling the base of my neck. "Fog protects the new day when it's still a baby. After each night dies and the new day is born, the fog sets in and wraps the baby morning all up."

I removed my thumb from between my lips momentarily, twisting around so I could look into the warmth of her kind chocolate eyes. "Like baby booties," I stated with the utmost certainty.

"Yes."

I smiled contentedly, turning to face forward again. Some days we could sit in silence like that for a long time, waiting for the sun to rise together. Later on I would be lead to believe otherwise, but on those lazy mornings, it always seemed to me that I was my mother's favorite little girl, and that I always would be, each and every new day.

~~~

"Um… Higurashi-san?"

I jumped slightly, caught off guard by the small high-pitched voice. I looked down to see a very short redheaded little boy, with bright green eyes gazing up at me curiously through long dark lashes.

I nodded, resisting the urge to kneel down patronizingly. "Yes, I'm Kagome."

The boy grinned, holding out his hand for me to shake, which I did after bending down slightly. "I'm Shippou. I'm kind of a gopher around here. Inuyasha has to supervise the dig right now, so he asked me to come get you. I'll show you your quarters and get you settled, and then you can… 'dig' right in." He laughed heartily, slapping his thigh, and I smiled, if only at his adorable antics. "Haha, dig! Pun intended."

I giggled, watching Shippou heave my other pack onto his back with some difficulty. He looked up at me, wide eyed. "Whoa, what have you got in here? It weighs a ton!"

"Books, " I answered, thinking of the mammoth volumes Kaede has insisted I study. In the three short days I had to settle my affairs, I had barely had the chance to glance at them, so I thought it would be a good idea to take them along on the trip. I contained my laughter as he waddled along in front of me. My bag was almost bigger than he was.

Squaring my shoulders, I tilted my chin up and kept my stride swift and even. I would not forget what Kaede had told me. I had questioned why, on the profile of me she was sending to Inuyasha, she had written that I had several degrees and licenses that I did not. She told me that it was because Inuyasha would not tolerate me if he knew I was not qualified for the job. 'Inuyasha is very hard to please, Kagome. He must always believe that you are intellectually his equal, or he will walk all over you. Whatever you do, do it confidently, because unless you hold your head higher than he can reach, he will tear you apart."

I swallowed, concealing my anxiety as I followed Shippou. This was for my internship, I reminded myself. For that, I would play his game.

And I would win.

***

-The Grave Robber-

I crouched next to a box of soil one of my crew was sifting, swiping my right hand through it in agitation. This was not the way it was supposed to be. Having my own project was supposed to be exciting and groundbreaking. I was supposed to find a new shard every day, fit them all together perfectly, be on the cover of Time by the end of the year, finally be able to look evenly into my brother's eyes… but no. Here I was, squinting into the rising sun as clumps of cold, wet, muddy soil slipped between my relaxed fingers.

"Excuse me… Inuyasha?"

I perked up at the ring of a soft, smooth voice behind me. Turning my head to look over my shoulder, I sucked in a quick breath.

The picture did not do her justice.

I couldn't help but give her a quick once over, my eyes hungrily taking in her shapely tan legs, the flare of her hips melting into her slim waist, the snug fit of her white sleeveless shirt over her generous curves, and the long dark tresses that fell in waves around her bare arms. Swallowing with some difficulty, my gaze drifted over her full pink lips that were curved into an inviting smirk to finally settle on her large, curious doe eyes.

"H…hai," I stammered. It seemed Miroku was right; I hadn't been around enough attractive females lately. Rising quickly to my feet, I felt instincts rise up inside me that I had forgotten I possessed. I guess after my last relationship ended the way it did, I had tried to forget any hormone-induced emotions, but I was rendered practically helpless at the sight of this new girl. It didn't help of course, that she looked so much like the only woman I'd ever felt anything real for.

I held out my hand in greeting. Besides, I may be the world's greatest archaeologist, but I'm still a 21-year-old human male… kind of… sort of… I guess. "I'm Inuyasha, the head of this expedition. I'm guessing you're Higurashi?"

She nodded with a slight smile that made my stomach turn over. One of her of thumbs was hooked through one of the belt loops of her form-fitting khaki shorts, and her other hand extended towards mine and paused, her gaze flickering from my hand back up to my face, amused.

I frowned, wondering what I was wrong, and hoping my nose wasn't bleeding or something perverse like that. Miroku was sure to be lecherous enough with her; she didn't need two of us. Glancing down at my hand, I laughed sheepishly when I saw that it was still covered thoroughly with mud from my little romp in the dirt. "Oh… heh… sorry," I muttered, wiping my hand hastily on the front of my pants until it was fairly soil free, before offering it again.

She shook it this time; her hand was soft and warm, and considerably smaller than my own.

"I'm guessing Shippou has already gotten you settled in? How was your trip?"

"Rough," she laughed. (She had a very cute laugh.) "But it seems to me I'm in once piece."

I'll say. One very fine piece.

She raised her eyebrows when I didn't say anything, lost in my own boyish thoughts. I frowned, dismissing them disgustedly. Acting 21 was one thing. Acting 13 was just unacceptable.

"Sooo," she offered, gesturing to the work going on behind me. "How about you fill me in about our progress?"

"Right," I agreed, nodding to clear my head as I turned, gesturing for her to stand beside me, which she did. She was pretty close now, and when she shifted her weight her arm brushed against mine. I inwardly chided myself at the zap of electricity that I felt at our contact. There was a time when this would not have been a big deal. Where did those days go? Sigh. "This is the fifth site we've been to so far. Basically we select an area that's prominently featured in the legend and begin an excavation there."

She looked somewhat bewildered, crossing her arms over her chest. "So you just pick a plot of dirt and pick through it?"

I shrugged, stuffing my hands in my pockets as we surveyed the myriad of workers in front of us, milling about like ants, running barrels and barrels of soil through sieves, washing rocks, sorting twigs out of dirt piles so they could be processed. "Pretty much."

"Are you serious?" she scoffed, and the incredulity in her voice caused me to fluff up defensively. "That's like trying to find a-"

"Needle in a haystack," I finished for her sharply. "But that's all there is to do." I turned my gaze to her challengingly. "Do you have a better idea?"

She blinked at me, surprised. "Not specifically, but-"

I felt my temper flare up slightly. Here for just half an hour, and already she had problems with the way I run things, huh? "Well, then don't complain."

"I'm not complaining!" she snapped, her voice rising in irritation before cooling again. "I'm just surprised. I mean, even in the story they had a little more aim than making sand castles."

That did it, I grabbed her wrist and whirled her around to face me. "Yeah, well, in the story they also had a bitch that could sense Shikon shards… and I guess while Kaede was busy recruiting disruptive females for my staff, she conveniently forgot to toss one that was a Shikon detector my way."

Kagome fumed, and in the back of my mind I decided that I liked the way she looked when she was angry. Her lower lip jutted out in a very kissable pout, and her cheeks flushed in frustration. "Disruptive females?" she seethed, her eyebrow twitching in her agitated state. "Is that so…"

"Um… please excuse the interruption."

I glanced to my right to see Sango now standing next to us, glaring at me condescendingly. She turned to Kagome, smiling warmly. "I'm Sango, head of security here. You must be Higurashi-san. Welcome."

Kagome sent one last cold look my way before smiling brightly at Sango. "It's nice to meet you. Inuyasha was just telling me about the way things work around here."

"So I gathered," Sango scoffed, fixing another hard stare on me. "Please excuse Inuyasha's rash behavior, Kagome. He's been away from civilization far too long and has forgotten his manners."

I bristled at that. It was an outrage. "Feh!" I spat, pointing at Kagome accusingly. "She was the one that-"

"Sango-san," Kagome cut in, blatantly ignoring my protests. "Do you think you could show me to the ladies' room? It was a long trip and I'd like to freshen up."

"We're in the middle of the woods," I snapped, motioning to our surroundings. "Pick a hole, any hole."

Kagome looked horrified by my suggestion, and I guess it was a good thing I was being sarcastic.

"Of course I can," Sango said firmly, smacking me lightly on the arm. "Follow me."

I grunted, sneaking a peek after them as Sango lead Kagome away. Hmm, she looked almost as good from this angle as she did from the front.

"I didn't do anything!" I head Kagome whisper when she thought I was out of range. One thing she would learn about me is that I have a very acute sense of hearing.

"I know, I know, don't worry about it," Sango replied gently. "There are some things you should know about Inuyasha."

Maybe having another female around here was not such a great idea after all. Now they could combine forces and gang up on me. "Not a word, Sango!" I yelled after them. I was shocked as I was responded to with two middle fingers, thrown over their shoulders as they continued to walk away from me.

Damn. Kagome might look like Kikyou, but she sure doesn't act like her.

^_^ Comments, criticism, and suggestions are appreciated.