InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Lose Control ❯ Chapter 1

BLANKET DISCLAIMER: I do not own Inuyasha or any other characters and trademarks affiliated with it. I make no money off this story, even though I could really use it. Besides, if I did own the gang, there is no way I would share them with you! Lmao, just kiddin'!

 

A/N: I know you guys probably hate me for starting something new while Neglecting What Friends Are For, but there are only three chapters left in that story. I detest filler chapters, and I wrote it so that something significant happens in each chapter. Believe me, the final chapter is to die for. I know, I wrote it. Besides, I wanted something new to occupy my time. And it could also be that I lost the book I wrote it in so I have to rewrite the whole thing. Please don't kill me. Now on to newer things, I liked the idea for this when my friend gave it to me, and I hope you will treat it with the same anticipation and appreciation you treat my other stories. Well, ON WITH THE SHOW!

 

CHALLENGE: # 1) If anyone can name the song being referred to in the first chapter will get a special prize. Comment with what you think it is, and leave a prompt and character pairing. If you get it right, I will write a personal one shot for you and post it within a week. Scout's honor!

#2) Kagome also quotes a line from a song in her little speech to Kouga. It's the last thing she tells him before she almost gets into the car. You'll find it. You may need a hint and here it is: the person who sang it, her initials are V.A.H. If you get this right, the prize is the same, and if you get both of them right, then you get TWO one shots. Now, I'll be very offended if no one responds, and an offended author doesn't write very much, does she? So keep me happy and play my little game!

 

LOSE CONTROL

 

CHAPTER 1

 

It was the first day of a new life for her in a new place. Kagome had traveled only God knows how many miles from Tokyo, Japan to Brooklyn, New York to start over, away from home. She had already found a nice apartment in the Bay Ridge area, and she was starting her new job at Starbucks in 2 hours. It wasn't a permanent career, but it was something for her to do while she was attending college classes at Columbia University, one of the most prestigious schools in America, and a member of the Ivy League. Thank God she was a morning person, considering her shift started at 7:30 AM. Rolling out of bed, she mentally thanked Kami for helping her find a job so quickly. In fact, everything seemed to be happening quickly. She was only in America for 3 days when she found an apartment, and she had a job in less that a week. It didn't take a rocket scientist to give her a deep revelation to know that this type of thing didn't happen everyday. Someone up there was smiling down on her, and she wasn't about to question her good fortune.

 

As per habit, Kagome sang in the shower. This morning, she was crooning a ballad and being independent and knowing yourself without the presence of a significant other. Her voice bore a remarkable resemblance to the characteristically ditzy blonde who originally sang the song. The lyrics were fitting, as she had finally realized that she didn't need Kouga around anymore, she loved herself enough as is. Considering the fact that they were together for three years and the poor demented youkai thought she was his mate, he didn't take the news that she was moving very well.

 

>>-(*)-<< FLASHBACK >>-(*)-<<

 

Kagome was sitting on her boyfriend's lap when her mother handed her the envelopes that had came in the mail. When she saw the address on it, she squealed both in anxiety and delight. Kouga stopped rubbing her back long enough to attempt to shield his ears from the noise. “What the hell is it?” he growled.

 

“It's from Columbia!” she squealed.

 

“Where is that, again?” he asked apprehensively. He already knew the answer, he was just praying to every god he knew that he was wrong.

 

“In New York.”

 

“As in America?” he asked incredulously. When she nodded, and tried to rip the envelop open, every fiber of his being hoped it was a rejection letter. It wasn't that he didn't want her to do well, it's just that he wanted her to do well when she was near him. He couldn't bear to be separated from his mate, and the United States was definitely not an hour's drive away from Tokyo. He would die without the small woman beside him; she couldn't even dream of leaving him. Besides, even is she did get it, there was plenty of good colleges and universities in Japan. He chose to ignore the fact that she had her heart set on Columbia since she was 10, and decided to revel in the blessed ignorance of the stupidly clueless.

 

She finally managed to remove the letter from the envelope and read it. Her cheeks paled, and tears streamed down her face. Hoping for the worst, Kouga mentally cheered and began to choreograph his victory dance in that sad little head of his. Hitomi, Kagome's mother, was standing by the door to her daughter's room, waiting for the news and she was quickly becoming impatient. “Well, what does it say?” she asked, anticipation evident in her normally calm voice.

 

Kagome opened her mouth, but she seemed to have forgotten how to speak. “I. . . I. . . I. . .” Everyone was tempted to snatch the paper from her, but they didn't want to upset her so they refrained. Her thin shoulders were blocking the letter from Kouga's line of vision, which meant that the only way to find out what the paper said was to wait for the hysterical girl to come to her senses. The tension in the room was almost palpable, and if looks could kill, our heroine would be lying lifeless on the floor from all the daggers in her back. Thankfully, she swallowed convulsively and found her voice. “I got in,” she whispered.

 

Her mother fainted, her brother cheered, her grandfather cried, and kouga ripped her pillow to shreds. When they finally managed to revive Hitomi, they all started screaming, with the exception of our wolf friend. “You're not going,” he growled menacingly.

 

Silence ensued and you could once again cut the tension in the room with a knife. “Excuse me?” Kagome said, calmly. Kouga should've known better. Kagome was scary calm, it meant that the coming explosion would be fatal.

 

“I said you're not going!” he growled at her. Hitomi, Souta and Kagome's grandfather took this as their cue for them to leave, and they tiptoped out of her room without drawing any unwanted attention to themselves.

 

Kagome looked at Kouga as if he had grown another head. “What the hell are you talking about? I've been waiting for this my entire life!”

 

He threw off of his lap and onto the bed. Then he knelt down in front of her. “You're my mate. You can't leave me. I'd die without you!”

 

She inhaled deeply and regarded him as is he was an interestingly new species of bug, not worthy of nothing more than a passing scrutiny. “First of all, I'm not your mate. . . “

 

“Yet. We can fix that now if you want to,” he interjected. “It's really very simple. The whole mating process. All you have to do is. . .”

 

She continued as if he had never interrupted her. “Second of all, it's only for four years. And finally, if we're meant to be. . .”

 

“EXACTLY!”

 

“. . . After I come back from Columbia.”

 

He began to lose his patience with the insufferable human wench, and his demon side was crying out for him to assert his authority and show her who's boss. “I said you're not going. And that's final. We're though talking about this,” he said nonchalantly. She squeaked in rage, and her skin reddened with anger. The silly wolf either didn't notice or didn't care enough to be threatened by the petite female. “You can go to Tokyo University or something like a good girl,” he added as an afterthought.

 

“I AM going to Columbia, and I could give a flying fuck about what you think!” she yelled, and it seemed as if the very foundations shook because of her righteous anger.

 

He looked at her as if she was a silly little child who needed to be shown the right way. “You know I don't like it when you act like this or when you curse, Kagome. It isn't ladylike and it doesn't befit a youkai prince's mate.”

 

If she could, steam would come pouring out of her ears. “I am not your fucking mate and I can motherfucking curse if I want to. Fuck, Shit, Bitch!” she screeched like a banshee.

 

Kouga decided to indulge Kagome for now. Every youkai knew that humans were sometimes incapable of rational thought or controlling their emotions. “Let's say you were going to this Columbia place. . .”

 

“I AM!”

 

“. . . How are you planning on getting there?”

 

“Er. . . it's called a plane. Huge metal thing that flies. Kinda like a bird. Ever heard of it?”

 

He chose to ignore her sarcasm. “You have money to fly there?”

 

“My dad left me a trust fund, which would cover my flight there and the cost of living for about 8 months.”

 

“Ok, tuition?”

 

“Scholarship.”

 

“How are you going to live after the trust fund runs out?”

 

“Get a job. I have this whole thing planned out. In case you haven't noticed, I've been dreaming about going to Columbia for the past 8 years! And I am going,” she added, practically daring him to contradict her.

 

He decided to drop the argument for the day, sure that he could come back in a few days and talk her out of it. Imagine his surprise when he arrived less than half a week later and found her loading up he other's car with what seemed like her life's possessions. The shock rendered him speechless, so she said flippantly, “Surprised?”

 

Speech failed him, and all he could do was nod.

 

“Why?”

 

“Told you not to go.”

 

“Told you I was. End of story. Now are you going to wait for me to come back or are you gonna throw a hissy fit and be a little girl about it?”

 

“If you want to go gallivanting across the globe, be my guest. But don't expect me to sit on my ass until you decide to come home.” She looked at him strangely, and he hoped he would see some remorse, anything along those lines.

 

What he saw scared him senseless.

 

All that lurked in those sapphire orbs was grim determination. She shrugged. “Fine.”

 

Kouga choked on air, there sure wasn't anything else in his mouth. “WHAT?!?” he roared.

 

“Move on, because I'm leaving. I'm going to go live my life.”

 

“Are you kidding me?” His throat tightened painfully and he found himself gasping for air. His mate couldn't leave him. She was supposed to be with him forever. She couldn't leave him, she just couldn't.

 

“I thought you would be happy for me. I thought that since you so-called loved me, you'd be proud of me and you would support me. I guess I was wrong. You only love me when I'm doing what's best for you, what makes life better for you. That means you don't love me at all. Maybe I'm expecting too much, but whatever, Kouga. You've made your decision, I've made mine. I gotta go my own way.” She opened the car door as if to get in but closed the door behind her without entering. She turned around and muttered, “Have a nice life. I hope someone to make you happy. Goodbye Kouga.” She got into the car and closed the door. Unable to resist, she flipped him off as she valiantly tried to keep the tears from pouring down her face. She wasn't happy with this. She actually loved the idiot wolf but she wasn't going to throw away her life's drea, for a stubborn guy. Like she said, if it was meant to be, it will be. And if it wasn't then it just wasn't.

 

“I hate you Kouga,” she whispered to herself.

 

>>-(*)-<< END FLASHBACK >>-(*)-<<

 

She'd be lying if she said that she didn't miss Kouga. Hell, she missed everyone. Being alone in a new place was scary and she hadn't made any friends yet. However, being alone was better than being in a den of liars, the way she had been when she was living in Japan. She was determined to see it through and laugh in all the faces of those who doubted her. Glancing at the clock as she came out the shower, she realized that she only had a half hour to get ready if she wanted to make it there on time. Panicking, she put on her pants, slipped into her shirt, and tied up the laces on her shoes. While staring at her reflection in the mirror, she pulled her hair into a loose ponytail, letting some strands fall to caress her face. She rubbed some tinted lip gloss on her lips and applied a layer of kohl to her eyes. The jet black color made ger sapphire eyes, which she inherited from her American father, pop against the dark background. She backed away from the mirror to look at her entire body. She cleaned up pretty nicely. Of course, our modest Kagome didn't realized that she was drop dead gorgeous, but it was one of the things people loved about her.

 

She ran over to the closet, grabbed her coat, keys and purse and then ran out the door. “Time to start over,” she said to no one but herself.

 

The train ride was short and uneventful, and once she followed the carefully written directions, she found the Starbucks without anything going terribly wrong. She walked in and breathed deeply, loving the smell of coffee in the morning. Walking over to Kikyo, her new boss, she had the brilliant and instantaneous revelation that she was going to like it here.

Her thoughts quickly changed when Kikyo opened her mouth. “You're early. You don't get paid over time for being 30 minutes early.”

 

“I'm not here for overtime. This is my first day and I thought I'd try to get a head start on what I'm supposed to be doing,” she said slowly, trying not to get annoyed.

 

“Oh, ok. Go to that girl over there,” she said, pointing to a surly looking girl who looked not much older than her. “She's Sango. Been here for over a year and a half, so se's gonna train you for a month. By then, you should have a hang of it. By the way, what's your name again?”

 

“My name's Kagome.”

 

“Kagome, huh? Well, I'm Kikyo, as you already know. Welcome to hell, otherwise known as Monday morning.”

 

She walked away without stopping to gauge Kagome's reaction to her cryptic statement. Kagome merely brushed it off and walked over to where Sango was standing. “Uh, hi?” she said questioningly.

 

Sango looked her up and down. “Something you want?”

 

Kagome inhaled deeply. Everyone was so difficult over here, and this girl was not going to be easy to work with. “I'm Kagome. Kikyo sent me. She said you were going to train me for a month since I'm new here.”

 

Sango's eyes lit up and she smiled brightly. “I was so looking forward to meeting you. Everyone here besides Kirara is so cold and distant, but Kikyo said you sounded annoying bubbly over the phone, which is a good thing in my book. I was kinda hoping we could be friends before I even met you. It is kind of weird when you think about it,” she finished shakily.

 

Kagome shook her head. “No, it's not. I've been praying for a friend, seeing as how I have none. I just moved here from Tokyo a week and a half ago.”

 

“Well, consider me your first friend. Now your shift starts in five minutes, so I'll just show you how to use the register, how to greet the customers and how to take orders.” When she glanced up and saw the long line of customers awaiting her, she swallowed convulsively. “It's ok,” Sango said. “The first three weeks are always a bit rough, you'll adjust soon enough.” She sauntered away, and turned back to toss one last comment over her shoulder. “Let the feeding frenzy begin.”

 

Kagome pulled herself together and regained her composure. She smiled at her fist customer, a woman in a power suit with an extremely angry look on her face. `God, it's gonna be a long day,' she thought to herself. Aloud, she said, “Welcome to Starbucks. Today, our new drinks are Dulce de Leche Lattes or . . .”

 

She was cut off by the woman, who said sharply, “I want a venti Caramel Latte, skim milk only, extra whipped cream, mocha sauce and extra cinnamon shavings. And hurry up, will ya? I'm late!” She threw down a ten dollar bill at Kagome, who took it from her and counted her change, doing all of this with a smile that hurt her face because it was so fake. Then she called the order over her shoulder and told the woman to step down and pick up her coffee. She bent over to pick up a quarter that one of her coworkers had dropped and handed it to her.

 

The red eyed demoness smiled at her. “Thanks. By the way, I'm Kirara. Welcome to the 9th Level of Hell.”

 

Kagome smiled. This was the third time she had received a comment like that, and she finally understood what they all meant by that. “Yeah, thanks. I'm Kagome.”

 

Kikyo's voice came shrilly from the back. “Hey! Introduce yourself to the newbie during break. You two are on the clock, and I don't pay to you to socialize!”

 

The two girls shrugged it off and went back to work. Eventually, the whole process of taking orders, collecting cash, giving change and doing all of this with a painstakingly sweet smile became a trying yet monotonous cycle. Eventually the rush subsided around 11:00, and the coffee shop cleared out. The various employees began to relax. Kirara took this time as the opportunity to introduce her to everyone.

 

“Ok, so there's Chris, Shawn, Sango, Tanaya, Amanda, Kyle, and Kikyo, our lovely boss,” she said pointing everyone out. Everyone waved at her as if they couldn't have cared less, except Sango, who blew a kiss at her. “Kikyo's supervisor and the head honcho is Naraku, but he's not here right now. So these are the workers. Now on a typical weekday, from 6 to like 11:00, we get a rush, as you just saw. Between 11 and 2:00, maybe 3, it's slow since everyone's at work. Around 3 until like 5:00, we get another rush because everyone wants coffee on their way home from work and the final rush is between 8 and 10:00. Then we close. On Saturday, our busy time is normally at night. Sunday's normally a slow day altogether. Any questions?” Kagome shook her head to show that she understood anything and that she had no questions. “Good, now go talk to Sang. She's like bursting with enthusiasm to take you away from me.”

 

Kagome turned to see Sango flip Kirara off and she laughed at their comedic display. She walked over to her new friend and smiled. “Can't get enough of me?” she asked playfully.

 

“Actually, since it's slow, Kikyo asked me to teach you how to mix some of the drinks. Coffee's pretty easy. There's always some ready, and each type is indicated on the machine. Just add milk or sugar based on what the customer wants. Teas are the same. The flavored ones are in individual boxes that are clearly labeled. Remember to leave the bags in the cups. Now onto the hard stuff: lattes and frappes.” She showed her how much coffee, milk, ice, whipped cream, and flavored syrup to add, and just how to mix it. After about an hour later, Sango professed that she was now and official Starbucks employee. “You learn fast. It took me a full week to learn how to make a proper frappucino. Kikyo was threatening to fire me daily until I finally got it.”

 

Kagome laughed along with Sango, “I think I like this job.”

 

“Yeah, it's cool. So is it okay to pry?” she asked suddenly.

 

Kagome seemed flustered and a bit taken aback, but she quickly recovered. “Sure. I don't have anything to hide.”

 

“Ok, so since you're only 19 and you seem to be very sheltered, what are you doing in America all alone?”

 

“I got into Columbia, so I crossed the entire world to go there.”

 

Sango's eyes widened. “Really?!? I'm about to start my second year at Columbia when the new semester begins. What you major?”

 

Kagome grinned so wide, her cheeks felt like they were going to split from being stretched so wide. “I'm majoring in Law!”

 

Sango laughed. “That's my minor. I'm majoring in Psych.”

 

“Like, Oh Em Gee, that's my minor. Do you know what your schedule looks like?”

 

“Yeah, I have a 5-7:30 class Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I have a 6:45-9:00 class. I have lab on Saturday from 9-11 in the morning.”

 

“We can go to class together. We won't have the same classes, but they're at similar times. By the way, did I mention we're neighbors? I took the liberty of looking up your application and I live right down the hall from you.”

 

“Super KAWAII!” Kagome squealed. Maybe American wasn't going to suck as hard as she originally thought.

 

 

 

 

A/N: So that's chapter one. Tell me what you think, but be nice. And I don't know if Columbia offers night classes, so don't shoot me if I'm wrong. And yes, I used to work at Starbucks, and it was the worst 7 months of my life. I wouldn't send my worst enemy to that place on a Monday morning. So the challenges are up, remember the prizes, and the next chapter should be here in a week. Lots of love!