InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Movie House Hanyou ❯ Minneapolis After Midnight ( Chapter 14 )

"Actually, Chels, before we untie him, I got a good idea." Sango smiled mischievously.

"Oh, and that is?"

Sango wasn't sure if the delirious Inuyasha would ever forgive her, but the set-up was absolutely perfect. The guy was currently too engrossed in his visions to notice what exactly would be happening, and once he did, it's not like he could do anything about it.

"Bring me a camera, and make sure it has film in it." Both women met each other's gaze and smirked.

Sango stayed downstairs to watch over their friend, while Chelsea went scouring through the rooms in Inuyasha's house. Within a few minutes, she had found a 35mm point-and-click Minolta on a desk in a room upstairs. It was almost at the end of the roll, so she finished off the last two pictures and removed the roll once it was fully rewound. In a lower desk drawer she found an unused roll of film, and in the camera she loaded it.

Once she was downstairs again, Chelsea saw Sango on her knee at Inuyasha's side talking to him, trying to get his attention; it didn't exactly seem to be working.

"Say 'cheese'!"

Sango turned her head just as the camera flash went off, forever capturing a candid shot of both herself and the human Inuyasha, an image reeking with the potential for blackmail.

At the sudden flash of bright light, the dazed Inuyasha snapped out of his current mind-melting hallucination. The room around him began to materialize again, yet the lighting was very dim for him, almost like an interrogation room. The marionettes became Sango and Chelsea again, the former looking as awestruck and startled as he himself.

Blinking his eyes rapidly, his pupils still massively dilated, Inuyasha looked around the room and saw the camera in the taller woman's hands. He stiffened. The woman beside him stood up and walked behind him as he turned his head and watched her intently.

"Just what the fuck are you two up to now?" She was now directly behind him, and she appeared upside down as he peered upwards at her.

"Look at the camera like a good boy, now," Sango ordered before forcibly tipping his head forward, smoothing out his swishing and mussed-up black bangs and facing the camera.

"But--"

::flash::

The camera caught another shot of him gawking. Sango brought her pointer fingers to the sides of his mouth and hooked them inward, catching at the corners of his lips and pulling them outward away from his face.

"Ack, damnit! That's annoying," he managed to say despite her tugging. He narrowed his eyes at Chelsea and bared his fangless teeth as best as he could.

Ignoring him, Sango merely ordered for another photograph to be taken, shouting out, "Look, Ma, no fangs!" while laughing so hard her eyes closed and her teeth could be seen between her lips.

::flash::

Oh dear kami, will this torture never end? Inuyasha sighed and thrashed his head for a moment, trying to shake the woman's fingers free from his mouth. If this was anyone else's doing, said persons would be dead right about now. But, if they show these pictures to anyone... he shuddered at the thought.

---

Sunday night approached, and after walking home from a long and hectic day shift at the theater, Kagome tiredly went inside her house and trod downstairs without even saying hello to her mother, who was cooking dinner in the kitchen and in very clear view of the door. Once in her room, she turned on her computer and loaded up her internet service provider, signed online, and opened her AOL Instant Messenger window.

No one was on except a couple people she knew from her old school in Chicago. The ones who dubbed her MegaBitch. Their away messages were up. She sighed. None of her Tokyo friends would be on at this time; they were in school for the next day, already! Kagome sighed again, checked her email and then signed offline. She wasn't in the mood for talking to anyone, really.

Only a week left of school, and then she had the whole summer to herself, she thought happily. She was a bit exhausted from the day at work. She was also a bit unnerved by the lack of Inuyasha during the weekend. Thursday had been, to put it mildly, awkward on both their parts, and after what happened, she knew they would have to have some serious discussions. However, he hadn't been scheduled to work at all during the weekend.

Sure, there were still four other days in the work week, but Inuyasha was a supervisor, and the weekend was when the theater was the busiest. She found it hard to believe that out of a three day weekend, one specific supervisor hadn't been scheduled for work on any of those three days. It was just… odd.

Sitting on her bed, Kagome picked up a book she had started reading the other day and flipped to the bookmark she had placed about halfway through chapter 3, quickly finding where she had left off when she had put it down last. She passed a deal of time engrossing herself in the fluffy fantasy story until her mother called from upstairs, "Kagome, dinner's ready!"

Remarking her spot in the book and setting it back on her bed by the pillow, she met her mom upstairs, and the two began a quiet Sunday evening dinner.

In the middle of their meal, Mrs. Higurashi asked, "So, how was work today?"

"Fine. Busy as hell, and lots of little kids around, meaning noise and chaos, but overall it wasn't too bad. At least I only worked the matinee shift instead of closing tonight."

Stuffing a forkful of cous cous and green beans into her mouth, Mrs. Higurashi furrowed her eyebrows while looking at her daughter intently, thinking about the other thing she had heard in her daughter's tone other than tiredness and befrazzlement. "What's bothering you, honey?"

Not quite expecting her mother to pick up on her funk, Kagome faltered for a moment, her fork just an inch away from her open mouth and a slight startled look on her face, before quickly resuming. After chewing, she replied, "It's, well, one of my coworkers didn't work at all this weekend, and I was hoping to get a chance to talk to him."

"Him?" A soft smile spread upon her mother's face.

Kagome tried not to blush. Even if this was her own mother, with whom she was typically very comfortable, she hadn't exactly told anyone about the thing she had for Inuyasha. And it's much more than a thing now, Kagome, you know, a tiny little voice in her head piped up.

She cleared her throat a little. "Yeah, a him. He uh, he hit on me the day I had my interview, and then the next day he found out I was the new employee," she spoke cautiously. Yeah, not just the new employee, but his new employee, that annoying voice said again. "But we definitely like each other." Man, what an understatement! She inwardly groaned at that last thought.

"Then why are you down? Do you just miss working with him?" her mother asked.

"Well, that, and, well," she paused for a moment to gather her thoughts and think of just the right wording to use, "due to some circumstances that were, shall we say, unprecedented, there's a bit of rift between us right now, and I was hoping to get a chance to talk to him this weekend in order to, uh, sort things out," she finished.

"Do you want to tell me what's happened?" Her mother looked concerned. "I won't ask you to spill everything, just what you're comfortable talking about." Kagome was silent at first. "You said he flirted with you the first time you met him. How did that end up?"

"Well, he conned me into accepting his phone number," Kagome began, a slight laugh bouncing in her voice. "But the next day he was pretty shocked to find out I would be working for him--"

"For him?" Her mother's eyebrows went up in what could turn into shock if things were not clarified immediately. Seeing her mother's reaction made Kagome silently and sheepishly go 'eep.'

"He's my supervisor, Mom." Hoo boy, gotta put Mom's mind at ease so it doesn't seem like it's a friggin' senior manager, someone in his thirties or forties, going after me. "He's uh, he's 20. "Enh, she'll never find out that little white lie. "I guess the best way to put this is, something happened between him and me on Thursday that shouldn't occur between two employees who are on different levels, and that's what caused the rift I spoke of."

She looked down at her plate of half-eaten Middle Eastern food and sighed, not feeling too hungry anymore. "But he didn't work at all this weekend. And I'm not gutsy enough to call him about it.

"Kagome," her mother said softly.

She zipped her head upward again and responded, "Yes?"

"I won't pressure you or anything. You're a smart girl, you can handle situations like this in a serious manner." Her mother smiled and stood up, taking her empty and dirty dishes over to the sink. "But if you ever want to talk about it, or if you want advice, just ask."

"Mom?" Her mother turned and looked at her. "You're not unnerved by the whole floor staff-supervisor thing?"

"No, not really. You two just can't really do anything unless--"

"He's trying to get me promoted."

"Well, that's sweet of him," her mother replied with a smile. "Just remember to take your job seriously and to not get yourselves in trouble with the upper management. And while I can't give you an answer on why he didn't work this weekend, as only he and your managers know that, I do think you two ought to talk about… things. You at least don't need unnecessary added tension while you two have to work together."

After the little remainder of dinner left, Kagome went back downstairs to continue reading her book. She seriously debated whether or not she should call him, but finally opted not to. She really wasn't gutsy enough to talk to him on the phone about such an issue, especially with her mother around. She would feel much more comfortable speaking to him in person, and she wasn't sure she felt comfortable calling him up just to ask to meet up with him somewhere. With what had happened, it just wouldn't sound right, and she didn't want to put undue pressure on him or anything.

They did need to talk things out, but it would just have to wait, no matter how much it bothered her right then and there.

---

Wednesday rolled around, and Kagome got through the school day fairly easily. It was her second to last day of school, and after tomorrow, she would only have fleeting chances to see her few local friends for quite some time.

She didn't buy a yearbook, just brought some sheets of blank, unlined paper with her to school for people to sign if they so wished. She didn't know enough people to feel warranted to spend upwards of $50 on something that would not be that memorable. What was the point of having a commemorative album full of pictures of people who had yet to mean anything to her, right? She would have all of next year, her senior year, to make buying a yearbook a worthwhile choice.

Kohaku had been absent that day, and she only hoped he would show up tomorrow.

As she walked toward her workplace, strolling past the Rock Bottom Brewery and Palomino's on the opposite side of Hennepin Ave, she thought intently about the annoyance of having to work not only that day, but also the next day. The only uplifting point about working two weekdays was the fact that she would likely have a chance to speak with Inuyasha.

---

She was particularly early to work, so she simply passed the time in the main lobby watching and chatting with her coworkers. Before long, she spotted Inuyasha on his way back from the stock room, an insanely bulky stack of boxed goods in his arms as he gingerly walked backwards, his head turned around to watch his path. When his pale golden eyes took notice of her presence and stayed on her for a good portion of a minute as he paused in mid-step and carefully readjusted his grip on the items in his arms, he made one hell of an attempt at ignoring her, passing her by without so much as a word or an additional glance, just a flare of his nostrils and a quiet huff. Rather than take the cold shoulder, she followed him over to the stand.

He finally made it to the concession stand counter in front of register 6 and turned around to edge the top layer of boxed goods off the bottom layer and onto the counter within his cashier's reach when she came up and started helping him.

"Oi, you're not on the clock yet," Inuyasha managed to mutter without so much as a glance at her and pushed the boxes out of her reach. "You don't need to be helping me."

"So? Can't I still help if I want to?" Kagome brought up, a surge of annoyance running through her as a result of his attempt to make her scram. "Besides, the sooner you give Callie that stuff, the sooner you and I can talk," she finished off with a strong intonation, giving him the hint that she was serious.

He sighed with a scowl but let her finish helping him. "Callie, I'll be back in a few. Don't do anything with this stuff except fill your own stock cupboards; leave the rest of it in the boxes on the floor or the back counter, and I'll deal with it later. Understand?" With a nod and an affirmation from the blonde woman, he turned and went toward the concierge desk in the middle of the lobby, making sure Kagome followed.

He led her through the door and stopped in front of the employee schedule that was posted on the wall inside, on the portion just before the medium-height counter that spread across most of the enclosed area on that side. "Okay, you start at 5, and it's 4:41 right now, so we have less than 20 minutes," he started. "Make this quick, and watch your words."

Kagome silently walked over to the swivel chair in front of the computer in the middle of the counter and sat herself down, her back facing the counter. "I had wanted to just call you this weekend, but I wouldn't have felt comfortable talking about this on the phone--"

"Yet you'd rather talk about this where all of our coworkers could possibly hear? Fascinating, simply mind-bogglingly fascinating, Kagome," Inuyasha practically sneered at her, his eyes narrowed. "I know what you want to discuss, and seriously, this isn't the time or place for that." Seeing the slight wince and the hurt that started to spread across her face, he softened his tone and let his own expression go a bit blank before starting again.

"Look, we both had a… loss… in self-control," he managed to say in a tone laced with not as much harshness than his previous words, his eyes shutting for a moment before reopening and gazing upon a blank section of wall on the other side of the inner wall of the concierge desk that suddenly seemed quite interesting. "But, no one found out, no one will find out, and we just need to be patient. I'm starting to wear Merle down and influence her about you. I doubt you'll be fully recognized anytime in the very near future, but give me a few more months, okay?" He still wouldn't meet her eyes.

Despite his gruffness, Kagome could tell he was honestly trying to make an effort. "Yeah, okay. But, um," she began again, "did… it… bother you as much as it bothered me?"

"Clarify 'bother' for me, and I'll see if I can say anything without risk of it becoming gossip should anyone overhear." He continued to brood and stare, his facial expression, or what she could see of it, suddenly becoming a bit pained.

"Are you unhappy with what happened?" she asked gingerly.

"Yes and no." He both looked and sounded distant.

"Do you regret it?" Please, don't say yes.

Turning toward her and finally looking her in the eyes again, Inuyasha paused and readjusted his cap, appearing to be in deep thought, then stiffened, as if sensing something. He made a shushing sound and placed his finger to his lips. After a moment, he responded in an avoidant manner, "Ima wa chotto hanasenainda… shita koto ga hoshikattanda ga, toki wa warukatta. Sumanai."

Before Kagome could reply to the compromising answer he gave, Inuyasha turned his attention to someone standing on the other side of the door eavesdropping. "Wiley, is there some reason you are listening in on our private conversation?"

A tall, decently built young man a few years older than Kagome stepped out into view and stared in interest at the two Pierce employees who were now staring at him. "The fuck do you care?"

"Because I'm your supervisor, that's why. And this is your last verbal warning to knock off the language," Inuyasha cautioned the belligerent black male without even an octave raise. "I can and will write you up if you so much as step over the lines."

Unsure of where this would go or how it would end, Kagome decided to just keep her mouth shut and not get involved. Her gaze went from Inuyasha to Wiley and back to Inuyasha, somewhat fearing the rising tension between the two men. She chewed her bottom lip.

Wiley, completely unfazed, continued with his onslaught of verbal insubordination, his arms crossed. "Listen, you albino, freak of nature fag, I don't take shit from nobody, and I ain't about to explain mahself to you, of all people. You's is nothing but a joke. You only a supervisor cuz you been here longer den anyone else. The fuck you doin' playing faves with this dumb broad here? Goddamn --" The next word out of his mouth was definitely an N-word, but one featuring only a single syllable.

Kagome sucked in a breath and remained silent and stone-faced, though she showed visible signs of agitation; she hadn't heard anyone say that in quite some time. It took all her self-restraint not to jump in and join the argument, especially after the insults pointed at both of them. She felt a clawed hand clamp onto her shoulder in a strong grip, and she tore her gaze from Wiley's to peer up at where Inuyasha now stood at her side.

He spoke softly. "Kagome, say absolutely nothing. I'll handle this." His eyes glistened as he aligned his mental crosshairs at the very center of Wiley's forehead and glared, taking a deep breath to get himself under control. Hearing what Wiley had said about Kagome made him want to rip out the bastard's throat and shove it forcefully up his ass.

"Oooh, so you is playin' faves with the stupid little white bitch after all, I see," Wiley replied with a laugh, smirking with indignation as he licked his puffy lips and rubbed his dry hand over his thick cornrows.

The grip on Kagome's shoulder became tighter. She winced, and not just from the pain; it was getting difficult to breathe now. Beneath his Akira cap, Inuyasha's ears twitched considerably, despite the lack of room.

The clearly enraged supervisor huffed and clenched his teeth and his free hand along with the hand that would start bruising his employee's shoulder if he didn't loosen up on his grip anytime soon, careful not to let his claws dig into his palm. When he finally trusted himself to speak, his glare bore into Wiley's eyes with ferocity.

"You just got yourself four write-ups. One for cussing, one for the insults, one for the insubordination, and one for the racist remarks. This place will not tolerate any bigoted behavior. I would do the same for anyone who called you or any of the other black people here the N word my ears are much more accustomed to being graced with. Being in a minority does not give you the right to throw around slurs like everyday words."

His voice was low and testy. "You already have five write-ups since you started here in January, and I am pretty sure that four in one day will get you fired."

He directed his gaze down at Kagome and released his grip from her shoulder. Her eyes were closed, and she was trembling slightly, holding her breath and firmly clasping both of her hands together tensely in her lap. Returning his gaze back to Wiley, he watched him roll his eyes and walk off toward the far end of the lobby where the hallway with the lower numbered auditoria entrances were, all the while muttering obscenities.

"Kagome, I'll walk you to the GMO, and then you can go further to the break room and clock in. Just ignore him. He's been a trouble maker since he first started working here, and I'm amazed he hasn't been fired yet. Kagome?" He looked down at her again, lightly caressing her shoulder, then noticed that she was shaking. He could smell very unpleasant emotions just rolling off of her. "Are you okay?"

Kagome opened her eyes and breathed heavily for a moment before looking at Inuyasha. "Mostly. I just… was hoping I wouldn't have to deal with pricks like him ever again. This isn't the first time I've been the target of such words. In Japan, I was regarded as a foreigner, just because I'm not--"

"Not full blood? I know the feeling," Inuyasha interrupted her. Yeah, you have no idea how well I know what it feels like.

Kagome nodded, easing out her breathing. "And in some of my past homes in the US, it was the same kind of stuff, because I'm, I…" she trailed off, the remainder of what she wanted to say not able to come out in words.

But Inuyasha, it seemed, was able to read it in her eyes, and he put out his other hand in front of her, palm up, awaiting the grip of her hand. "Come on. While I get his write-ups ready, I'll talk to Merle, and she can talk to you later on, if you want. Out of all the senior managers here, she's the most human, really understanding. You look and sound like you might need it."

As she calmed herself down, she placed her hand in his and let him pull her up out of the chair.

"Smile, will you? For me, Kag?"

After a short moment, Kagome did smile. While she hadn't really gotten a chance to talk with him about everything she had wanted to, at least she knew he wasn't going to shun her like it had felt he was doing at first. In addition, the way he handled Wiley and had somewhat consoled her… it made her feel cared for. So, of course, she would smile for him.

---

The remainder of the work evening was mostly uneventful. As soon as she had the chance, Kagome spoke with the manager on duty, Merle, in the GMO about the things Wiley had said, and she had given her some consolation about the situation and confirmed that Wiley would indeed be fired for his little tirade. Seeing that Kagome was still upset, she asked what was going on, and the young employee told her that she was interested in learning how to do box office.

"Zara said I need to grow a spine in order to handle the customers down there," she went on.

"Zara said that? When?" Merle readjusted her business two-piece skirt suit and crossed her legs again, folding her hands and resting them on her knee as she leaned forward.

"On Friday. She was in a really bad mood when I was talking to her, so I don't think she meant to insult me or anything. Allen Sashka had been pestering her again."

"Well, Kagome, right now we don't really need any new box office employees, but I will keep it in mind. As for Zara, just don't mind her so much. And while I do think you're a great employee, the way Naraku shook you up a couple weeks ago really is a sign that you need to toughen up, even if just a little bit. Customer service is a really stressful thing, and she's right; the box office customers can be pretty nasty about some of the strict rules and regulations that the GM and his First Assistant have set up, that we still have to abide by.

"Plus," Merle paused, shaking the hair out of her face, "until we get some better floor staff employees in the concession stand, you're really all we have. But, while I can't promise you anything, babydoll, I do think it's safe to say that when some other concessions workers show as much promise as you, and when we actually need an extra box office worker, I can probably manipulate some strings and get you trained in down there." She smiled at Kagome and asked, "How does that sound?"

"Great," Kagome replied. Inside her head, she cheered. Got a better chance of being promoted if I'm cross-trained, she told herself happily.

---

The first set of evening shows would normally have had fairly moderate traffic at the concession stand, if that, but due to the 2 Fast 2 Furious sneak preview screening at 7:30pm, the concessions employees were overwhelmed, and unprepared, and after 8pm, Kagome was the only concession employee still on the clock. By the time closing came, she had little of the stand's cleaning work done due to not being used to having it all to herself.

Around 11pm Merle took Inuyasha aside and spoke with him about being shown more of the closing procedures, and the supervisor agreed and followed her into the GMO and subsequently into the cash room. She sat him down by the computer and told him she would be walking him through the closing procedures, so that left Jamar to handle the concessions duties for the remainder of the night.

By the time it came close to midnight, Kagome still had much left to take care of, and she quickly finished up the most menial tasks before going to Jamar and asking if it was all right for her to leave. He told her she had to finish all of the duties, even if it would take her till three in the morning. She was the only one there, and it would be unfair to leave him with all of those duties on top of his own.

Even the argument about having a curfew got disputed. Jamar himself had only recently turned 18, and before then, he had always been made to stay as late as need be, sometimes till 2am or 3am. After a sigh, she rolled her eyes and went about getting the remaining work done. As she was still only meagerly adept at cleaning the different areas of the stand, and she was the only one working on it, it was very time consuming.

Jamar kept himself busy with counts behind the stand and counting stock in the stock room. Several times he brought out items from the stock room and had her stop whatever she was doing at the moment in order to fulfill his latest task. The time passed painfully slowly, and every once in a while she would grumble to herself over her predicament. He was the manager, though only a junior one, and Merle was nowhere to be seen, nor Inuyasha, so she had no choice but to follow his directions for the time being.

After he finished with his counts, inspected the countertops and floor for cleanliness, and locked all the cabinets, he went out into the lobby and down the hallway toward the GMO. Kagome finished up soaking the metal insets for the topping stations in hot, soapy water in the sinks of the prep room, wiped down the stations, filled the napkin and straw dispensers, and then finally put away the large box of nacho cheese cups that came in packs of four in the heater.

As she didn't wear a watch, she had no idea of the current time, and Jamar had already locked away the phone and turned off the register consoles. But, she knew it was very late, as she could see from the darkness outside beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows facing the Target Center, and her feet and back ached from the constant physical exertion. Walking home from work would not be fun, to say the least.

Kagome finally felt confident that she was finished. Earlier she kept being told there was one more thing she had to do, and once it was finished she would only be given a new task. As Jamar was gone, and she couldn't see anything else that needed doing, and the entire stand was clean and free of debris and clutter, she made her way to the GMO, allowing a bit of anger to puff up at being kept so late.

She knocked on the yellow door, and she anxiously watched the shift in light through the peephole to predict when someone would answer. When it opened away from her, Merle stood there and practically stared at Kagome with a confused expression on her face.

"What are you still doing here this late at night? Ain't you only 17 or something?" Before receiving an answer from the tired and exasperated looking employee standing before her, she turned her head toward the far end of the office across from the cash room door and spoke strongly to someone Kagome could not see. "Why you keep her here till 1:45 in the goddamn morning, Jamar? That's a waste a' payroll!"

"It's… quarter to two?!" There was a sick sound in her voice. Kagome's arms shook and her face froze in realization of the time.

"Did you keep working just cuz, or did Jamar here say you couldn't leave?" Merle's expression was contorted as she looked back at her, her hand on her hip and an examining gaze intent upon her.

Kagome's voice felt weak as she answered, "I asked to go before midnight, but he said that I couldn't leave with all the unfinished work. Be-because it wouldn't be fair to leave the remainder for him to pick up in addition to all of his manager duties. Every few tasks I asked him if I could leave, but he always said there was something else for me to finish--"

Jamar interrupted her, "It's nothing to get upset about. If it had all been left to me, I would be here all night."

"You already here all night, Jamar," the senior manager scolded him cattily, her heated gaze back at him. "The hell you think you doing keeping her here so late just because you don't want extra tasks?!"

From inside the cash room, Inuyasha sat by the computer silently, listening to everything that was being said with devoted interest as he worked on the final closing duties in the computer. His ears had perked up as best as they could beneath his cap when he took notice that she was at the door talking to Merle, but he kept himself busy with his last few computer data entries, knowing it was better to leave Merle to bitching out Jamar. He still fumed over the comments Wiley had made earlier, and he assured himself that if he did not involve himself in the current ordeal directly, he would be able to keep his temper.

He hadn't known either that Kagome was still there. Merle had been so busy with having him mass-learn the closing duties that the nearly three hours had passed by quickly for him, and he hadn't even thought that Jamar would have kept Kagome there so late. Snorting and huffing to himself, he typed in a few more numbers into the spreadsheet.

Merle continued on, "Kagome, you can go. If anyone, and I mean anyone, tries to pull this on you again, you just let a senior manager know, cuz they's is overstepping their boundaries as lower management, and we can't stop them from doin' that unless we know about it, kay-kay?"

Kagome now had her hands clasped tightly together behind her back, and she nodded, desperately trying but failing to keep the sad look from showing on her face.

"And Jamar," the senior manager continued, her eyes narrowing as she finally turned and walked away from the doorway and let the office door begin to close, "the next time I catch you pulling a stunt like that, I'm sending the employee home at his or her request, and you get to do all the clean-up in addition to your manager tasks."

More was said between the two, but Kagome did not hear it, as she had already left the now closed door for the break room to clock out.

In the cash room, Inuyasha kept quiet, the only sound being the hum of the computer and the clacking of keys on the keyboard. At least it's an incident worthy of being written up in our notebooks. Gomen nasai, Kagome.

---

Outside on the sidewalk passing by the Olive Garden, she walked briskly and with constant alertness. Somehow, knowing it was much later at night than she was used to when walking home made her a bit more wary of other people than usual. The bars were already out, and as she passed 5th Street, a feeling of unease crept along her skin. She was right across from Augie's and The Brass Rail, and the people standing out front were shadowed in the odd lighting. It would only get worse once she approached the bridge, where almost no lighting existed, and only the reflection of light upon the dark, murky water of the Mississippi off to her right past the railing would be of any solace.

Hefting her bag over her left shoulder due to the fact that her other shoulder still ached with the minor bruise from Inuyasha's grip, she tried to clear her thoughts. Only two more blocks until she was to the lengthy expansion-like bridge, and then there would only be a 15-20 minute walk across the river, and maybe five more minutes until she was home.

While walking, she avoided any person she came near and argued with herself over the frustrations that were all coming tumbling downward at her.

…she hadn't been able to speak very much with Inuyasha…

…things just got weirder and weirder. And painful at times, in more ways than one. For many reasons…

…no one's grip could be that strong, not at all…

…even though he was still showing signs of compromise, she sensed a hint of something very wrong that plagued him…

…even in Minneapolis she hadn't been able to escape harsh words for the mixture of blood she had been blessed with. And, in a way, she had been insulted for both parts of the mixture. It hurt like a bitch…

…goddamn Jamar making her stay so goddamn late….

What Kagome didn't anticipate while in deep thought, though, was the flashing of lights as a police car pulled up along the curb just in front of her. She stopped just as the passenger side door opened, and out stepped a tall and thin male officer. Despite the lack of decent light, they could see each other just fine, and she stared at him, a feeling of dread beginning to form.

"Excuse me, miss, but may I see your driver's license or state ID, please?"

Kagome panicked. It was 2 in the goddamn morning in the middle of Downtown, and her legal curfew was midnight. Kuso.

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

A/N: sublimetrickster/Tammy on Deviant Art finished Deviant Behaviour! It's all colored and shit now, so go lookie and tell her how much you think it rocks:

Http : // www . deviantart . com / deviation / 8553484 /

Japanese vocab:
ima wa chotto hanasenainda - I can't really talk about it right now
shita koto ga hoshikattanda ga, toki wa warukatta - I wanted what we did, but the time was bad
Sumanai - excuse me, forgive me
Gomen nasai - I'm sorry
Kuso - shit, damnit, or other cultural equivalent