InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Movie House Hanyou ❯ Jailbait ( Chapter 5 )

A/N: warning… this chap is a lil fluffy toward the end *smirk*

That night the concession stand was massively stacked with lines almost as bad as her first weekend there. That particular Friday night the new Adam Sandler movie Anger Management had just come out, and that was what everyone was seeing then. Now, everyone was seeing Identity, Holes, or Anger Management. And being located in downtown meant big business in ticket sales and concessions for Pierce Theaters.

Tonight she was assigned as a runner during the first rush because they already had six registers open, and there really was no other place to put her until Brenda would be leaving at 8pm. Inuyasha was down in the box office this evening, and she was stuck bagging popcorn for Tanaya, Brenda, and Callie on registers 5, 6, and 7.

She had begun to have the same feelings for Tanaya that Inuyasha felt, at times wanting to strangle the immature, loud-mouthed little brat who couldn't keep her mouth shut and who certainly did not know a thing about customer service. Brenda was okay but not much of a talker. Callie was tolerable in comparison to her twin sister Cory who worked down in the box office. In Kagome's opinion, Callie looked like a female, 5'4 version of David Spade, which she found very amusing, seeing as how her twin Cory looked like a 5'1, flat-chested, skin-and-bones version of Britney Spears.

"Kagome, dump the popcorn!" Callie shouted over her shoulder as the beeper on the popper went off. Kagome was bagging a small sized popcorn for Brenda at the time and snapped her head up to see who had called out to her. Callie repeated her command with clenched teeth, "Dump it before it burns, idiot!"

Ignoring the insult, she quickly finished bagging the popcorn and silently rushed to dump the popper kettle so the popcorn wouldn't burn. In addition to being a runner, she was in charge of keeping the kettle cooking during the rush, and right now, they really needed it. The popcorn warmers were only a third full at most, and the lines would not be receding for a while. In the midst of preparing the next batch of seed and salt, she silently cussed to herself.

"I need three hot dogs, Kagome!" Tanaya yelled out with a twist of her head, even though her runner was directly behind her. Kagome faked a smile and ran off to get the hot dogs as soon as she could. Working concessions was usually tolerable when Inuyasha was back there, but when they stuck him in the box office, it was always much harder for her to enjoy work.

Downstairs in the box office, Inuyasha was changing ticket paper for Dominic, the new box office employee who didn't know what the hell he was doing. The moron had loaded the paper wrong and caused both a cutter failure as well as a paper jam in the printer, which in turn caused major delays in the line. It was taking him a while to get things fixed and working, as he had needed to remove all the screws from the top of the ticket printer and then fiddle with the jammed paper from both the top and the side of the weird metal contraption. It would have been easy for anyone with normal fingernails to fix, but he was always a bit cumbersome working on such things that required more nimble fingerwork, what with his claw like fingernails.

"Look, Dominic, always load the paper with the white design facing this way," he half-calmingly, half-frustratedly tried to explain to the tall black teenager as quickly as possible so he could put him back on the register and have him continue selling tickets. They were swamped, and they did not have the time to mess around with dillydallying. "And always, always, when you load it, rip the paper off at one of the creases cuz it won't load unless there's that little puncture mark on the side, right there, see?"

"I think so, but it might slip my mind later on," the newbie cautiously said with complete honesty.

Inuyasha sighed and shook his head. "Now don't screw up again, or Naraku will probably refrain from scheduling you during busy shifts down here. Don't want that, do you?" he rhetorically asked with a smirk.

"Inuyasha, I need ones…" called out Cory, "I'm down to maybe 20 or so, and-"

"Yeah, yeah… I hear ya. I'll be right back. Gimme $100 first, though," he quickly interjected, taking the money she placed in her outstretched hand. Once in the back room of the box office where the change bank was kept, he muttered to himself, "Stupid blonde bimbo needs to stop frying her skin with those goddamn tanning sessions, Lil Miss Britney Shit Between the Ears wannabe," where he knew no one could hear him.

He paused in mid-thought as he reached for a bundle of $100 in ones, then brushed off the interruption. He'd tell her later.

---

Later that night, it was late enough that the concession stand had been closed and the money taken into the cash room within the GMO for the daily bank balancing, and all that was left for the concession employees was the obligatory cleaning. Kagome, being one of the newest employees, ended up with the least enjoyable tasks, like cleaning off the hotdog rollers or boiling soda water and kettle cleaner in the popper kettle.

They were not too enjoyable because they were the two tasks which had the potential to burn the person doing them, since the rollers were best cleanable when hot so that the grease from the dogs wouldn't cool and harden on the rotating metal tubes, and the soda water and kettle cleaner were to be boiled inside the kettle before being dumped out, and so there was the hazard of both the hot metal exterior of the kettle as well as the hot water as it was being poured out and into a plastic 10gal bucket. Both were quite time consuming, but at least that meant that everyone else had the remainder of cleanup done by the time she got done with those two tasks. More work for everyone else, less for herself, she thought with a semi-happy tone. No one could love his or her job entirely, she knew, and there were things one would just have to bear for the sake of being paid for one's job.

As she was about to clock out for the evening, Kagome saw Inuyasha race past her, running toward the concession stand to do stock counts on the individual registers' inventory. Nothing out of the ordinary, she thought, so she thought nothing of it from then on, pushing it out of her mind. But after clocking out and nearly reaching the stairs, she heard him call out for her not to leave yet.

"I'm already off the clock and I need to get home! I'll see you tomorrow morning, so you can tell me then!" she shouted across the lobby to him as she began down the steps.

"Matte! It can't wait till tomorrow! I gotta tell you now cuz it's about tomorrow!" he cried with annoyance, but she was already down the stairs and out of hearing range. "Damnit!"

"Inuyasha, what did I tell you about using profanity while on the job?" A junior manager named Allen came up to him and crossed his arms in front of his chest, staring at him with a smirk.

"I don't care, Allen. And since when did you become Naraku's model employee, huh?" he retorted to his superior with a scoff. "Last time I checked, you were on his list of people to fire for incompetence. Why do you think he and Kagura smack you around and call you a fag who can't count, and such?"

He didn't like Allen too much, but in reality, it was more because of his demeanor. The guy was a pansy and would take just about any dehumanizing abuse from the upper management, and this, in Inuyasha's eyes, made him not likely to keep his junior manager position for too much longer. He would so be demoted if things progressed downward as they already were.

"And yes, I know you're no fag. It's just what they constantly say, whether or not you're around. I bet you $20 they'll embarrass you in front of the entire staff tomorrow morning," he finished off before Allen could defend himself. "I don't know what's worse for them to insult about you… your heritage, your sexuality, or your intelligence. Why the hell do you take that shit from them, anyway?" Inuyasha's eyebrow went up as he spat out the last few words, shaking his head.

Things continued between them, Allen defending his reasoning in putting up with things by using the stupidest excuses as usual and Inuyasha continuing to put his superior's reasoning in the figurative toilet, until both realized the conversation was going nowhere, and both still had a lot of closing duties left to be done.

While counting the inventory for register 5, Inuyasha cussed to himself about not being able to talk to Kagome before she left from work. Sure, she had his number, but he didn't have hers. He doubted she would call later and ask. With a sigh, he decided he'd just have to face the wrath that would only be coming tomorrow morning around 7:30am. Enh, tough shit. I gave her a chance to hear me out, so if she gets pissy tomorrow morning, it's not my fault, he told himself nonchalantly with a shrug of his shoulders.

---

The next morning Kagome was standing outside the brick building next to Big Brain Comics. An awning above the archway detailed the name of the restaurant, and she followed the signs to the set of hardwood double doors nestled about seven feet past where the awning hung over the sidewalk. She went for the door handles but couldn't even turn the knob. Looking around for a sign, she found exactly what she was looking for… a small sign that detailed their hours.

It read that Monday through Friday the place was open from 6:30am until 2pm, but that on Saturday and Sunday they did not open until 8am. Of course, she was not too happy about that, and she began arguing with herself over the stupid blunder that Inuyasha had undoubtedly made, wondering if he had done it on purpose.

Kagome heard a car horn behind her sound twice, and she saw him in a dark, almost black colored car pulled up to the curb, dressed mostly in red and black except for his dark purple and silver bandana, looking at her insistently and motioning for her to open the car door on her side. Fuming, she yanked it open and slid in, not wanting to talk to him first for fear of screaming her head off at him. Instead, she just sat there next to him in silence and stared out the passenger side window as he pulled away and drove around Downtown.

"I tried to tell you last night, but you wouldn't give me a chance," Inuyasha grated out, fully knowing she was plenty mad about being told to show up half an hour before the place opened.

After finally trusting herself to speak to him in a civilized manner, she softly and slowly said, "And just what are we going to do for the next half hour, hm? I am not exactly happy about this mess-up of yours."

"Oh, I dunno, drive around, chit chat, contemplate the fact that this is your fault…" he listed off with as serious an expression he could put on without breaking out into laughter. He knew she'd find that last item not very amusing, and that's exactly why he said it.

Kagome responded by landing a smack on his right arm. He barely flinched, and when he looked at her again, trying to keep his eyes on the road most of the time, he immediately smiled and said, "You know, that was absolutely pathetic. If you wanted to hit me, you shoulda just said so," as he pulled up at a red light. He reached his arm into the backseat somewhere in the middle and fished around for something, finally looking back there when he couldn't immediately find it using just his hands.

His eyes met with hers with a devilish glint as he returned to his former posture with a leather riding crop in hand, holding it out to her. "Here. You're more likely to do a good job if you use this. Hell, I'll even take my shirt off if you want it to really sting." He gave her a smug grin and drove forward at the green light, looking for a parking lot to use.

She looked at the 20" long crop and took it from him, though with a quizzical look on her face. "Why do you have a riding crop in the back seat of your car, or at all?"

While in mid-turn at another intersection, Inuyasha answered, "My ex-girlfriend and I had a nasty break-up about two months ago, and she told me to just keep all of the toys she'd left at my place. That one just so happened to have been left in my car, and I never bothered to put it elsewhere." He shrugged his shoulders and entered a small open lot, glad to get a good deal on the normally outrageous parking fees since it was a Saturday.

She looked at him like he was crazy. "A riding crop… is a toy?"

He pulled into a parking space, stalled the car and put it into park, turned off the car, and then turned to look at her with a serious expression. "Yes, a toy. Now, c'mon, you still mad at me and wanna get yer bitchslap on me with that thing, or are you gonna wuss out like most people would, hm?" he challenged her.

There was that smirk again, back to tease and taunt her. She knew he was just trying to get her to retaliate, but deep down, she really did want to hit him hard enough to cause red marks. Falling into a sugary sweet syrup of a voice she barely recognized because it was so high pitched, she cooed in a sing-song tone, "Inuyasha…" batting her eyes all the while.

"Yes?" There was that stupid smile she wanted to wipe off his face. He looked way too confident. She'd show him.

"Get out of the goddamn car so I can whip your sorry ass!" she shrieked at him happily, holding the crop by its handle and threatening to hit him right away if he didn't do exactly as told.

He seemed to shrink away and cower from her banshee howl with a scowl, covering his already bandana-covered head with his velvet-encased arms, seeming to be protecting something, but what, she didn't know. It couldn't be his ears as he didn't go for the sides of his head, she thought, but she really was stumped and confused. Well, no matter, time to get her smack on, she thought with an evil grin.

Inuyasha recovered and grinned, scuttling out of the car and slamming the door shut, Kagome following suit. He walked a few feet from the car before turning around and spreading his arms out wide, practically inviting her toward him with his hands' "come here" motions, all the while a grin on his face and a strange glint in his eyes. His golden eyes, she thought to herself. There really was no other color to call them. Amber wasn't quite right, and it was the only thing to come even close. Goldenrod? Nope. Golden. Just plain golden. Those golden eyes that sparkled with mischief.

She took the riding crop in her right hand and lovingly tapped the little leather flap at the end with a couple fingers of her left hand as she began to advance on him, and he only egged her on further.

"C'mon, hit me! Anywhere but the face!"

She handled the crop more gracefully than a star tennis player with a racket, aiming for his lower tummy. A stinging connection was made, and he flinched slightly before looking down at where she'd hit him. He rolled his eyes and laughed.

"That's still very pathetic," he taunted her as he lifted up the back of his shirt and turned around. Over his shoulder he turned his head and directed, "I want you to hit me as hard as you can. Hit me like I deserve it," the taut skin of his back just waiting for her.

Kagome snorted at the challenge and brought the crop down on his lower back, making the slightly flexible shaft bend as it connected harshly with its target. Inuyasha visibly shuddered and winced at the contact but inhaled deeply while the pain registered before he turned back around and tore the crop out of her grip.

"Now, don't you feel just a little bit better about the whole ordeal, bishoujo?" he asked as he came forward and encased her in a firm hug, catching her by surprise. So, she does have more than just potential, he thought to himself dreamily.

"You… you enjoyed that?" she asked him, surprised not only by the close contact but also by his seemingly happy reaction to having just been whipped. In response, he merely snapped a light, playful tap on her rear with the crop and smiled, flashing his fanglike teeth and nodding, peering deeply into her eyes.

After stroking some stray hairs out of her face and behind her ear, he finally used words again. "I'm pretty sure you did, too." She didn't answer him, but she knew he was right. "Anyway, let's walk back to Hell's Kitchen now. By the time we get there, the place should be ready for opening." He walked back to the car to put the crop back in there before locking his vehicle. Then he looked back at his not-date and found that she no longer seemed pissed off and looked clearly amused by the previous ordeal.

~---

They had ordered the lemon-ricotta hotcakes, bison benedict, coffee, and two orders of toast, planning on sharing their meal. The décor of the place was not as dark and gloomy as she had originally anticipated; it was quite cozy, actually, even featuring artwork that reminded her of the cover of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas on the walls and friendly music softly radiating overhead. They had a small table near the window overlooking the street, and their server was a friendly guy in his early twenties who apparently knew Inuyasha from somewhere other than Hell's Kitchen.

"Question," Kagome randomly blurted out while they were waiting for their food to arrive.

"Shoot."

"You don't look Japanese… or at least, not full blood. Tell me," she began before he cut her off.

"I lived there my entire life until about 8 years ago. Then I moved here. My mom is, I mean, was a very beautiful woman, a member of the high elite class. My father, however…" he trailed off, not sure how to give a plausible answer to another Japanese speaker. Normally he told people, as long as they didn't know Japanese, that his father was from some foreign country called Inuyoukai that no longer existed. But he had to be careful with her….

"Was he Burakumin?" she testingly asked.

"Fuck no! He was from I-…." He paused again. "Isurando."

"Iceland? That's all the way on the other side of Europe from Japan!"

"So?!" he spat bitingly at her, obviously not too happy about being pressed. After calming down, he began again, "What about you? You couldn't possibly be full blood." His words still held a slight tinge of menace, and she caught it.

"I'm not just any Japanese-European hybrid…" Kagome somberly trailed off with a huff. "Both of my parents are half Japanese and half something or other. I think French and German, but I never bothered to care." He grunted, trying not to feel sorry for obviously having hurt her feelings about her heritage.

After a long pause, he broke the silence between them and offered to buy her a specialty Bloody Mary. "They make 'em the old fashioned way here, with beer, really tasty," he explained with a lick of his lips.

"I can't drink, Inuyasha. I'm not old enough."

"Well, maybe sometime where this shit isn't regulated, I can serve ya something," he replied with a smile, having recovered from the awkwardness from earlier.

"Anything that doesn't taste like alcohol, I suppose," she replied back to him. "Like, fru-fru girly stuff. I've had a few flavors of schnapps before, and Zima, and I like the sweet stickiness of plum wine," she continued on, trying not to sound like such a pansy for not being a drinker.

With a laugh, Inuyasha pointed out that their meal had arrived, and they both ate as if they had been denied food for several days. She reveled in the homemade blackberry jam and peanut butter, which tasted simply divine. They continued to chit chat during the meal but mostly just inhaled their food since they were on a time constraint. They couldn't be late for the 9am staff meeting.

"Say, what about a stop by the casino sometime, hm?" he asked as they were finishing up. "Sorry there's no time to tell you about the shit that goes on at work, but you'll see some of it soon enough at the meeting."

"Inuyasha, didn't I just tell you I'm not of age?"

"Silly girl. The gambling age in this state is 18. Minnesota casinos don't serve liquor on the gaming floors, so you only have to be 18 to play slots or blackjack there," he corrected her.

"But I'm not 18."

Inuyasha had just taken a sip of his bottomless cup of coffee when he heard that, and his feelings on her statement were pretty much self-explanatory when he choked while in the middle of swallowing the hot, sweet, nutty liquid.

"What?!" If anyone could look surprised, outraged, and discombobulated all that the same time, Inuyasha was more than skilled at pulling off that difficult task. After regaining his composure, he stared at her and quickly asked in a scraped-clean tone, "Just how old are you?" He tried not to cough from his disappointment. Fuck, I never thought to consider the fact that she might be only 16 or 17, he mentally cursed himself.

"I'm 17."

Now desperate, and clearly showing it, he continued bombarding her with questions. "When's your birthday?"

"April."

Damn, either I'm going to be very happy or very let down with her next answer. "April what?"

"April 9th." Kagome wasn't quite so sure why he cared so much. "Is there a problem?"

Before answering her, Inuyasha pulled out his wallet and dug around for his Minnesota driver's license, flinging it onto the table in front of her, being sure to point out the little box that held his birthdate to the left of the face shot of him that was bordered by red, indicating a 21+ license. His eyes were half-lidded when he finally spoke again.

"That's the problem," he said, a single claw pointing to the 2-13-1975 on his card. "I'm 28, and you're only 17." He sighed and turned his head, unable to look at her. "I knew it was too good to be true. I should have known," he said softly but gruffly, more to himself than to his meal guest.

Now she knew why he was so obviously upset, she realized. He had had plans of getting her promoted so he could date her, but now that idea was just thrown out the window, because if he wanted to be completely safe in doing so, he'd have to wait practically a whole year. And to tell herself the truth, she was really starting to grow on him, and she also didn't really want to wait.

Noticing he wasn't looking at her and still had his hand still pointing to his registered birthdate, Kagome slid her hand on top of his and gripped tightly, tugging for attention. He looked back at her, surprised at the sudden touch, and found her holding up a giant blackberry that neither had touched yet from their hotcakes platter, a genuine smile on her face. He desperately tried to read into her expression but couldn't figure her out.

"If you can wait, then so can I," she said in a matter of fact voice as she placed the blackberry in front of his lips. Rather than answering her, he just opened his mouth and closed his lips around it, swooshing it out from between her fingers quickly and being sure to continue sucking on them, tugging a little.

"Mmmm, blackberries and Kagome… the perfect dessert," he said, not wanting to ever leave the restaurant. They finished up and paid for their meal before they got up to leave. And as happy as they both were, they were both quite dismayed at the long year ahead. If only they knew what terrible things would happen in the near future.

------------

A/N: I highly recommend this restaurant. Very tasty food, and my friend Alex works there on the weekends ;) If you live in the Minneapolis area and have never been to Hell's Kitchen in Downtown, please do try it sometime.
There is info available at their website, at http : // www . hellskitcheninc . com
Also, Inuyasha is actually a lot older than 28, but he poses as someone born in 1975 in today's society. You'll find out much later just how old he really is *smirk*

Japanese vocab-
Matte! - wait!
Bishoujo - pretty girl (yes, I know I translated this in past chappies)
Inuyoukai - dog demon
Burakumin - a sect of Japanese who are basically shunned by society
Isurando - Iceland