InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Kindergarten Flirting ❯ Welcome to the Family ( Chapter 46 )

Kindergarten Flirting

Back in kindergarten, your mother would tell you that if a boy pulls your pigtails he likes you, and if he dips them in paint he loves you. That goes for the rest of your life too. Moreover, when you're an adult and work for the Hottest Man of the Year.

.xx.

Uneventful as it was, two weeks passed and the staff at Takahashi Group of Companies were busier than anticipated. Kagome was running in between Puppy Trails and rushing to finish their new line, Cherub, before the company party in one week. Inuyasha made an effort to drop by her place every night to wish her sweet dreams and, for the days he could not drop by, he would make the effort to spend a few extra minutes with her at work.

Their relationship was progressively getting stronger and better. Falling into a routine, Kagome would bring him a home cooked meal for lunch and he would either pick her up from home in the morning, or send a limousine if he couldn't make the trip himself. Likewise for clock out time.

Yura was taking it easy, being pregnant and all, and Inuyasha was okay with that—he was getting used to being around pregnant women: one was at work, and his sister-in-law at home. Whenever he thought of pregnancy, a funny feeling would erupt in the pit of his stomach and he'd think of Kagome…

Eating a KitKat Chunky, Inuyasha walked into Kagome's office unannounced to find her leaning over a stack of papers, signing her life away. Hearing her door open, Kagome looked up and was excited to see her boyfriend slash faux fiancé (mark of intent signifying her to be his officially, but in an unofficial manner). "Got any more of those?" She ushered to the chocolate bar and, because his heart began racing uncontrollably, he handed the chocolate bar to her. Kagome smiled.

"Thanks," she murmured. "Do you know how hard it is to sign a signature over and over and over again?"

"Yep," he smirked before sitting on her loveseat. "Because I tend to sign everything after you're done signing it."

Kagome rolled her eyes. "Right. Forgot about that—say, did you ever figure out what Meilisa's dress colour is?"

Inuyasha nodded, licking his teeth and attempting to get some of the lingering taste of chocolate on his tongue. "Taupe," he replied promptly. "What the hell is a taupe?"

Kagome giggled. "A bluish greenish brown?"

"Wouldn't that be dirty sea foam green?"

Kagome raised both her eyebrows. "I can see the feminine influences your mother had on you."

Inuyasha playfully glared at her. "I'm just a very knowledgeable hanyou, alright? Anyway, wanted to tell you the manufactures called. They're going to be setting up the cribs at the banquet hall tomorrow so it'll be ready for the reveal next week."

Kagome nodded. "Right. I told them to change the style of the bedding for the debut…"

"Yeah, you told me. I had to sign the documents for that yesterday, but it should be okay," Inuyasha chewed on his cheek. "I heard Kouga cancelled?"

Kagome rolled her eyes. "Yeah. Ayame's in her sixth month of pregnancy and is due any day now He doesn't want to risk coming and having his mate's water break in the middle of the shindig."

Inuyasha snickered. "He wouldn't ever live that down if it did happen."

"Don't be mean," Kagome rolled her eyes, "so, because we have the two seats open, I took the liberty of inviting Souta and Kohaku."

Inuyasha raised both eyebrows. "The brothers?"

"Yes sir," She winked at him, "I figure they should be exposed to our kind of world. Wouldn't you say?"

Inuyasha shook his head in good humour. "You're trying to set Souta up with one of our client's daughter's, aren't you?"

"Am I that transparent?"

"Like a clear glass of water," he winked and dodged the paperclip flying in his direction. Standing up, he made his way over to his girlfriend and kissed the tip of her nose gently. "Naraku called earlier saying that he needed to see us tonight. Are you doing anything?"

She shook her head and pulled him in for a tight embrace. "Nope," she murmured, "is it bad?"

Inuyasha shrugged. "He wouldn't give me a clue," he whispered, "I hope it is good news."

"Me too." Her lips found his and, with his hands firmly gripping the armrests of her chair, he dominated her mouth. Kagome clung onto him as if he were her last life support and moaned throatily. Bringing one hand up, Inuyasha cupped the back of her neck and pulled her in closer to him, delving his tongue into the cavern of her mouth. Before Kagome could lose herself completely, Inuyasha withdrew and kissed her forehead.

"I'll get you at clock out," he whispered, "love you."

Kagome slouched back in her seat as he began exiting her office. "Love you too," she called. Inuyasha opened her office door, glanced back at Kagome and wiggled his butt playfully before walking off. Kagome gawked at where he was just moments ago before bursting into uncontrollable laughter.

Inuyasha, you loser.

.xx.

Dear Kagome Higurashi;

We are pleased to inform you that your presentation time has been set. You will be presenting at 3pm sharp on June 25th with an allotted time slot of one hour. Please bring necessary equipment and, should you require an LCD projector, e-mail us back and we will have that ready for you. Best of luck and see you soon.

Noriko Yamamato

Kagome read the email once over before quickly shutting down her e-mail outlook. Her nerves were finally beginning to set in: she was presenting her thesis in a week. A week! She had been preparing in between working and setting up for Inuyasha's annual party. Staying up late some nights, she would practice in front of the mirror but that didn't lessen the nerves.

"Oh man," she murmured, rubbing her face to calm herself down. Getting up, she decided to take a brief walk; perhaps grab a coffee at the Bistro with Yura. Shutting her office door behind her, she called out to her friend before she even made it to the counter.

"Wanna grab a latte?"

Yura bit her lower lip. "I'd love to, but I have a deadline in an hour and I'll be in so much shit if I miss it. With the stupid party around the corner, all of us are clocking overtime."

Kagome sighed. "Tell me about it. It's the most stressful time of the year."

"Wouldn't that be Christmas?" Yura teased. Kagome snorted.

"Not for the slaves of Takahashi Company."

"Amen," Yura muttered. "I'll grab a latte with you if you can somehow manage to e-mail me screenshots of every angle of our crib design. If you can do that for me, I'll make my deadline and we'll all be happy bitches."

"Pun intended?" Kagome nudged Yura who locked her terminal.

"Just because our boss is half canine doesn't mean I'm punning all the time. Regardless of how punny I am." Yura teased and Kagome wrapped her arms around her, laughing lightheartedly. She could always count on Yura and Sango to calm her nerves without even knowing they were. Every girl needed a best friend and Kagome was lucky she had two and a half.

Rin was the half—she was becoming full best friend quite quickly, though.

"How's the new daddy?" Kagome asked as both ladies stepped into the elevator. Wordlessly, Yura guided her hair to press the ground floor button – and it still creeped Kagome out how Yura was the Mistress of the Hair. What kind of demon could control hair?

"Happy," Yura smiled. "We're already walking into baby stores… Inuyasha promised us baby furniture courtesy of Puppy Trails."

Kagome beamed. "Really? That's so good!"

Yura grinned. "Yeah, I know. Ever since you stepped into his life, he's less assholey."

Rolling her eyes, Kagome linked her arms with Yura as they nodded to the daytime security guard before exiting the building. "I'm just amazing like that," Kagome replied to Yura's statement as the jay-walked across the street. Finding seats almost immediately, a waiter ran up to them and passed them menus before retreating. Kagome studied her friend and not the menu.

"Stress isn't gnawing at you yet?"

Yura shook her head. "Nope. So far so good. I know as soon as the party is over and done with, I'll be home free. What sucks is that I'll be pregnant for nine months," playfully, she rolled her eyes, "why do animal demons get the better deal when it comes to pregnancy?"

Kagome's eyes twinkled. "I talked to Rin about that. Apparently, and I quote, they're gonna be clawing and kicking your stomach until they rip you in half. God was understanding when He decided how long animal demon pregnancies were gonna be. I don't need a mini Sesshomaru clawing up my insides, end quote."

Yura burst into laughter half way through Kagome's imitation of their friend, Rin. "Makes complete and utter sense."

"Nonsense is more like it," Kagome snorted. "They told their son, Shippo, that she's pregnant and he said something about a stork demon bringing the baby home in a sheepskin sac."

Yura gawked at Kagome. "Shut up!"

"I swear! I was there having dinner with the clan when the squirt blurted it out."

"Oh my god, Inuyasha is influencing his nephew in a negative fashion."

Almost instantaneously, Kagome's phone vibrated with a text message. Frowning, she glanced at her phone and read the message before bursting into laughter and handing her cellular device over to Yura.

I resent being a negative influence, Yura.

"Did he really?" Yura's eyes widened. "That jackass is eavesdropping with his cuddly doggy ears!"

Again, Kagome's phone vibrated and Yura, who had been holding onto the phone, opened up the message to see Inuyasha had sent it. Again.

I'm not a jackass and my ears are manly and ferocious. Besides, you two talk way too loud and I can hear you up in my office.

Yura looked up to the top floor of their building to see Inuyasha waving down at them. Kagome followed Yura's gaze and snorted when she saw her boyfriend's tiny figure waving at them. Looking across the table, Kagome murmured: "We need to make up code words if he's gonna be listening in on us all the time."

Yura's eyes lit up. "I know! Let's speak in Morse code! Beep, beep, long beep, long beep, beep."

Kagome threw her head back and exploded into uncontrollable laughter. Finding it contagious, Yura joined her and Inuyasha, who had heard the whole thing, shook his head at his two secretaries. Never a dull moment.

.xx.

In a deserted parking lot, Inuyasha and Kagome sat in his ginormous Hummer. Actually, it was Rin's Hummer but she kept saying that she felt that something was wrong with the engine so Inuyasha was giving it a test drive for the day. Tinted windows rolled up, the two were sitting inside talking about their day. Inuyasha's hand was curled around her neck and his thumb was gently rubbing the Mark of Intent. Kagome loved how it felt.

"I was wondering," Inuyasha said softly, still caressing the mark on her neck. "After we're done meeting with Naraku, do you and Souta wanna grab a bite to eat?"

Kagome's eyes widened, shock coursing through her. "Souta… too?"

Inuyasha gave her a lopsided grin. "Well, yeah. Your sisterly influences are tainting him. I figure it's high time he had a manly influence in his life—other than your grandfather. Seriously, wench, the old man is falling apart at the joints."

Kagome giggled softly. "Cute. I'm sure Souta would love to grab a bite to eat. He idolizes you… to an extent."

Inuyasha popped his collar with his one free hand. It was evident that he refused to stop caressing her mark and Kagome's insides screamed for him to touch her. And, Inuyasha being a half demon with heightened senses was drowning in the scent of her arousal. Shifting slightly, he was hoping that he could remain comfortably seated with his painful erection.

"What's not to idolize," he leaned forward and his voice dropped to a husky drawl. "Now," she could feel his breath against her skin and the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. Her arousal, also, spiked. "I've been waiting to devour your lips all day."

Involuntarily, and because he had mentioned them, Kagome licked her lips. A throaty growl began to rumble in the back of Inuyasha's throat and, without any warning, the hand that was caressing her mark of intent moved to the back of her head and his lips pressed against hers. Kagome's hands dug through his hair and her left hand began rubbing the base of Inuyasha's ear. Momentarily, his eyes flashed red before returning to its natural ochre shade.

Kagome ran her tongue along his lower lip before flicking it at his canine teeth. Inuyasha grabbed a handful of her hair and pulled her head back before mercilessly sinking his fangs back into her neck. A loud moan sounded from Kagome and that was all the reason Inuyasha needed to begin suckling where her mark was. He was determined to give her two bites: the mark of intent and love bites.

Kagome's fingers managed to sneak in underneath his shirt and run along his rock hard chest. Inuyasha's erection was unbearable and, with one swift movement, he used brought one of her hands over the bulge in his pants. Kagome bit her lower lip and Inuyasha whispered in her ear, not before nibbling slightly on her lobe: "I want you."

Playing devil's advocate, Kagome took the opportunity to pull back slightly; not before giving his area a little squeeze. "Tonight?" She asked. Nodding, albeit a bit sadly, he agreed.

"Tonight." Brushing a tender kiss across her lips, Inuyasha straightened himself up as Kagome buckled her seatbelt. "I wish I was a Time Demon," Inuyasha muttered before sending Kagome a hot grin, "that way it could be tonight already."

Kagome winked at him. "Don't worry; time will fly right on by."

.xx.

"Morimoto, at a sitting with the judge that would've sat at our hearing, pleaded guilty to intending to defame Inuyasha with accusations of his son being yours," Naraku stated as they sat around his dining table. Kagura was in the living room, watching T.V. with Kanna and was acutely paying attention to the discussion happening—she loved hearing about her husband's line of work. So many interesting things happened.

Kagome raised both eyebrows. "Guilty? It was that easy?"

Naraku smirked. "Not really," he leaned back in his chair. "It was either that or go to Death Row."

Inuyasha frowned. "Death Row? But only the Demon High—" He trailed off, realizing exactly what Naraku was trying to say. His eyes widened and Naraku nodded, knowing that his friend had caught on to exactly what he was trying to say.

"Ryuukotsusei convinced the Demon High Court to reopen the file. After a little bit of investigation, we found out that Morimoto's wife was having an affair with a Panther Demon. When Kaoru found out, he killed the panther and blamed his wife—he wanted to punish her. From the information we gathered we found out that he was under the assumption that, because she was his wife, Inutaisho the leader of the legion, would spare her with minor punishments. Inutaisho, however, was not that lenient…"

"And he killed his wife because she committed murder," Inuyasha finished. Naraku nodded.

"Bingo. So that pissed off Kaoru and he was hell bent on killing Inutaisho, which he eventually did. Managing to twist the panther murder to look like his wife did it so well; he was off the hook from the Demon High Court with only one murder. If the High Court knew he committed two innocent murders, he would've met the same fate as his wife." Naraku watched the many expressions on Inuyasha and Kagome's faces. Kaoru Morimoto's story got even more fucked up by the day. Never had Naraku such a man to research and, he hoped, he never would get another one.

"The High Court found all of this out, of course," Naraku continued. "And they contacted Kaoru. They said that if he plead not guilty in the human court case against Inuyasha, he'd live to regret it. Kaoru didn't want to be sent to Death Row, however, so the High Court is going to make sure he spends 10 years in jail," Narkau glanced down at his papers, "and his demon powers will be revoked."

Kagome gasped and Inuyasha was stunned.

"They can… it can…" Kagome stuttered but Naraku knew what she was trying to say.

"Yes, they can do it. Only powerful witches are able to perform such magic and we have the right one to do it—" Naraku read over the name. "Urasue, the Mountain Witch."

Kagome glanced at Inuyasha who was in blatant shock.

"And… the baby?" Kagome asked as Inuyasha was not making any move to talk. "It's Chiisu's but Kaoru thinks it's his."

Naraku nodded. "Correct. I spoke to Chiisu about it and he admitted the baby was his but he and Kikyo were too afraid of Kaoru Morimoto's wrath to admit it to him. It was also around the time he was planning Inuyasha's sabotage so everything for Kaoru fell into place."

"Is Chiisu the dead wife's son?" Inuyasha suddenly asked and Naraku frowned.

"Good question…" He quickly looked through his notes before nodded. "Right. No, Chiisu is not the son with his late wife. He had, a few hundred years later, an affair with a human. A stripper, to be exact. Chiisu is the product of a one night stand and the stripper had left him at Morimoto's doorstep, saying that a child was not fit for her lifestyle. She was found two years later dead in her bathtub. Heroin overdose."

Inuyasha cringed and Kagome only gaped.

Wow.

"That's fucked up," Inuyasha finally admitted. "So he isn't going to court?"

Naraku shook his head. "No. He will be put into a cell tomorrow which he'll call home for the next ten years. His company is being liquidated and the top shareholders that aren't him or his son will get the cash after the creditors have been paid off. Urasue will be there in a week to rid him of his powers. For good."

"The High Court is being really nice. I mean," Kagome looked at both the demons, "death was his punishment from what you told us."

"They are," Naraku agreed, "I guess their ideologies are changing with the times."

"Still," Inuyasha whistled low, "it's done done now."

"Yep," Naraku grinned. "It's over. Chiisu agreed to tell his father that he's the daddy of the child after his powers have been taken away. With whatever money Chiisu is getting from the liquidation, he's going to help Kikyo pay for the abortion."

"Really?" Kagome was so surprised. "Why an abortion now?"

"Because Chiisu was confident his father would always believe that he was the father of the child. Even though Kikyo and Chiisu were afraid to admit to Kaoru that they were the ones who conceived the child, Chiisu was smart enough to know that if his father assumed, long enough, that the child was his and not his own sons, he would provide for everything. But now that their entire legacy is being liquidated and Morimoto is going to jail, Chiisu has nothing but the option of abortion. Evidently, he's not ready to be a daddy."

"Call me sore and fuck me stupid," Inuyasha leaned back in his seat. "That's enough to make a fucking soap opera."

"I know," Naraku muttered dryly. "It was amusing researching all this. But, it's over, case is closed. He's going to jail tomorrow, and I want an all-expense paid trip to Hawaii as payment for doing all of this for you."

"Pay for Kanna's babysitter while we're away, too!" Kagura called from the living room and everybody laughed. Inuyasha, uncharacteristically, hugged Naraku.

"Thanks, man."

Naraku returned the gesture. "Anything for a friend. But I still want to go to Hawaii."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes and pulled back. "Fine. Kagome, write him a cheque and charge it to the business account."

Naraku feigned a gasp. "You're charging it to the business? Then fly me to the fucking moon and back, jerk! Why are you skimping, asshole."

His little bitch fest caused an uproar of laughter. The good, no-problems-to-follow kind of laughter.

It was all finally over.

.xx.

Kagome went to get changed as Inuyasha and Souta lounged down the steps to board his vehicle. Souta was overjoyed to hear that Inuyasha was taking them out for dinner and jumped at the opportunity. Inuyasha, however, had something else planned altogether.

"Squirt," he nudged Souta as they were a few steps away from his car. "I need you to help me with something."

Souta looked up at him. "Sure. What's up?"

Inuyasha glanced at the house and back to Kagome's brother. "You know how they say that if a boy pulls your hair he likes you… and if he dips your pigtails in paint, he loves you."

Souta caught on and grinned. "And if he pours paste in your hair, he wants to marry you? Yeah, I know that. I also know that you can buy paste for cheap at the dollar store and if you water it down, it won't stick to Onee-chan's hair too bad."

Inuyasha smirked. "Is that a blessing from the younger brother?"

"It's a blessing from your future brother-in-law," Souta nudged Inuyasha. "Just make sure you water it down though. Getting paste out of hair is hell."

Inuyasha snickered and wrapped an arm around Souta's shoulders. "Think she'll say yes?"

"Does telling you welcome to the family answer your question?"

Inuyasha's heart warmed. "Thanks, kid."

"No problem," Souta grinned at Inuyasha, "bro."

.xx.