InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Falling for the Baby Sitter ❯ Mellow Out ( Chapter 1 )

The screeching harpy on the other end of the phone made the almost permanent ringing in his ear kick on. That was going to be fun at work tonight. Inu Yasha ran his hand through his ebony locks, pushing them out of his face. Deep familiar frown lines formed on his face, as he listened to his mother tell him how she wouldn't be able to watch the boys anymore. She was going to have to start being around the house more now that Nazuna and her boyfriend were moving in. His intense brown eyes were dark, brooding, and heavy lidded from severe lack of sleep and drifting lower with every second that passed. To say he was only half listening was a major understatement. He sighed and ran a hand over his face trying to sort through his muddled thoughts.

"Momma," he began irritably. "I can't afford to pay a person twenty bucks an hour to watch these kids. Besides, what about Souta's home schooling? I have to work sometime. Unless you plan on forking some dough over yourself…" he trailed off, scowling at the clock. He had to finish that painting or he was going to blow this contract.

Muuona scoffed at the end of the line. "Oh so now it's my responsibility again? Now, damn it, I can't help this situation I'm in either, Inu Yasha! I have my own family and children to take care of too you know! Once Nazuna moves in here I'm going to have my hands full as it is trying to keep her from getting knocked before graduation anyway!”

"Well, that shows how much you trust your own children!" He snapped angrily from the strain of the day. Between work, his boyfriend, and now this he was being pulled him too tightly, wound like a wire cable ready to snap. He was getting ready to break at the slightest infraction upon his sanity and his mother was getting treacherously close to that trigger.

Muuona's voice got really low and threatening, using a tone he hadn't heard her use since back when he was a kid and he'd broken her favorite lamp. "Inu Yasha. Now you listen here. I have no- time -to be dealing with your stress on top of mine at the moment. If push comes to shove, yes, I will help pay for a nanny, or a live-in baby sitter, but you need to get your ass in gear, as of now, and get an ad out in the paper if you want to have one by the end of next week. Now, I will help you as much as I can until you get a sitter, but if you do not have a sitter by the end of the month, at the latest, you're going to be looking for some new place to live. You are 19 years old now. You need to start learning how to live on your own."

Inu Yasha growled and gripped the phone tightly, "I do live on my own, woman! Ever since I turned 16 I have lived on my own! What the hell do you want me to do? Build a damn star casino out of a paper clip, a rubber band, and some straw? I'M ONLY HUMAN!"

There was a small pause on the other end of the phone before a very cold, and very serious voice rumbled, "End of the month, Inu Yasha."

The phone clicked and his eyes narrowed. They fell on the newspaper lying a few feet away from him on the floor and his lip curled in discontent before snatching up the blasted thing.

"End of the damn month… where am I going to find a cheap live-in baby sitter within two weeks?"

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Kagome stared out the car window, her face blank. She watched the trees fly by and let her hand rest absently on her abdomen. The car slowed to a crawl as they neared town. Her silver eyes studied the rain clouds gathering over a public park with a playground where children were jumping rope, chasing each other, and engaged in a furious game of dodge ball. Amidst all the chaos and the uproar there were two little boys side by side on a bench that seemed rather forlorn, watching the cars go by. The older little boy had jet black hair and the younger boy had fiery red hair, and both of them seemed to be waiting for a severe looking woman by the tree to get off of the cell phone. The seemed awfully despondent as they stared into traffic. Kagome's heart went out to the two little boys, "I know how you feel…" she whispered softly as the traffic picked back up and they were again on their way. She looked at the little blonde girl sitting beside her, kicking her legs and coloring in a notebook.

Her family's moving van pulled up beside them at a stop light and her mother and step father discussed something briefly. He was going to stop by the warehouse where he'd have a job quickly and see if they might have a shift open for him tonight. Whatever, she shrugged. That just meant she could put off putting roots down that much more. Her mother had wanted to move out here because her older sister, Sayo, lived near here with her husband and child, and she had been striving to bring the family back together for the past year and a half. Though that wasn't the only reason for the sudden uprooting of the family… still yet, Kagome felt her morose mood take a turn down fury lane, as she thought of how her mother had constantly been uprooting them and moving them about the country for the past eighteen years of her life. Well, this would be the last move, because it was the last time Kagome would do anything with this crazy family of hers. Too many lines had been crossed in the past year, and the transgressions that had come to pass had taken her just one too many steps past her breaking point.

Kagome turned a bitter eye out the window again looking at the old town stores they passed. Loitering outside them in between alleys and some just out on the curbs were what looked to be like a mixed group of greasers and hippies, passing drugs and cigarettes between each other. She rolled her eyes and looked around the town a bit more, spotting a few more guys that were obviously Juggalos; sporting their Twiztid t-shirts, and smoking their Newports. Kagome wrapped her arms around her waist, eyeing them outside of the window. She pondered on her cynical thoughts, when appeared before her very eyes what was obviously the KKK of the new generation, speeding through town and causing people to shy away from their roaring four-wheelers. This was going to be fun living here. From the looks of it, they still burned witches at the stake. Kagome just rolled her eyes again before closing them and waiting for them to arrive at the new hell hole her mother now expected her to call home.

"Well, here we are!" Her mother's forced and strained cheerful voice chirped out over the radio and the children's jabbering.

Kagome cracked an eyelid to peer at her surroundings, and immediately snapped it shut again. She groaned at the rambling stories of the old Victorian house that looked like they were ready to collapse in on each other. “Of course,” she muttered. Why expect anything less out of Mrs. Fix-it?

Her mother shot a sharp look back at her and got out of the car to begin unloading bags and boxes. Kagome unfolded herself from the cramped van and started handing some boxes over to her little brother who looked just about as happy about their destination as she did. School did not look good this year. Good bye friends that they wouldn't have liked anyway.

She turned to grab some more boxes but, the little blonde girl tugged on her baggy black pants before she could reach for one and looked up at her with a rather pitiful look on her face. “When are we going to go home? Where's Daddy?”

Kagome's heart wrenched as she eyed the little girl, then turned her face away, not sure how to answer her and keep her tears from spilling over at the same time. She swung around and grabbed another small bag for her to carry. “I don't know, Mayu,” she murmured, averting her eyes.

They finished unloading the vehicle just as Onigumo pulled in with the moving van. While he was distracted with a small argument with her mother, she used the opportunity to slip away into the back yard unnoticed. She shoved her thumbs into the ratty holes in the sleeves of her black hoodie and strode towards the darkest corner she could find in the twilight and flopped down. She stared up at the old moldy wood and felt queasy. "No way…" she muttered, "No way am I sleeping in that house…” The damn thing looked far too much like her old home… and nothing good every came out of that house. Her head snapped to the right as she heard her mother calling her to come help unload the moving van. She sighed, having been found out, but just grumbled something beneath her breath that sounded like, “I'm coming …”

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Kouga wrapped his arms around Inu Yasha from behind and laid his head on his shoulder, closing his eyes. Inu Yasha felt himself relaxing from the draining performance that his lover had just put on for him. In just as much of a bad mood as he was in before he started, he reached for the coffee table and snapped out a Winston, lighting it up and glaring through the smoke at the wall. He was still on edge about the whole baby sitter situation. The only offers he had had so far were for well over 600 dollars a week. He pushed a hand through his tangled hair and leaned back against Kouga, trying to convince the older man that he had had his undivided attention, but Kouga knew that he had just been worried about the boys the whole time anyway. He sighed and opened his eyes peering at Inu Yasha.

"Love, you worry far too much. You have to relax… you still have a week, just let yourself mellow out. It will all work out," he murmured nuzzling his neck and nipping at his earlobe.

Inu Yasha smiled and looked up at him, "Yea…" he sighed, leaning his head back against him and letting his eyes drift closed. He found himself becoming lost in the sensation of Kouga's hands inching down his bare abdomen, "Mellow…"

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Kagome sifted through the morning papers in hopes of finding some sort of a job and/or apartment but so far she had had no such luck. She was shivering from the late night rain she'd slept in, and could barely read the furiously shaking and spotted newsprint. True to her word, she hadn't slept in the house, so she was currently sitting at the table downing cup after cup of coffee with frost and leaves in her hair. `This can't go on for too much longer,' she thought gloomily to herself. Her eyes fell on an ad toward the bottom of the last page:

Looking for a live-in babysitter with experience for two boys, ages 3-4.

Cheap pay, but boarding, food, and various other expenses will be taken care of.

For further questions, please contact Inu Yasha Takahashi at 555-6969.

Kagome's eyes widened slightly as hope surged through her heart, "Ohhhh, halleluiah!" It might be a temporary fix but she could use it none the less as a spring board to get out on her own. She cheered and snatched up her phone dialing the number quickly. A groggy sounding voice rumbled huskily into her ear and she suddenly remembered that it was only 9:40 in the morning.

“Hullo?" it mumbled. For some reason the sound of that voice sent shivers through her spine and she swallowed around the lump in her throat. "Hullo?" The voice repeated a bit irritably.

Kagome finally got a grip on herself, "Hi, my name is Kagome Higurashi, I'm calling about the babysitting job…"