InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Not Another High School Fanfic ❯ Meet the Guardians ( Chapter 14 )

Chapter 14: Meet the Guardians

 

Aoi's POV

 

Last weekend was oodles of fun. Tiring yes, but fun nonetheless. I learned numerous things. I learned that getting into a pillow fight with Sango is dangerous to your health (that ho gave me whiplash!). I learned that Rin is really really really cute (seriously though, I just wanna kidnap her and make her just like me! So then I'll have a Mini-Me! Just like that movie, hey I just rhymed twice in a row! Snap!). I learned that when Chiyo is asleep, her cat ears move on their own (and I must say it is VERY entertaining to watch). Yes, it was a very educational weekend indeed. But all good things must come to an end, which I learned when my `favorite' day rolled around: Monday!

Noooo! I thought as I heard my alarm clock go off that morning. My mind was saying, “Get outta bed you lazy ho!”

But my body was saying something along the lines of, “No Aoi, sleep makes the world go `round...”

Usually in these types of fights, body wins.

So I went right on ahead and tapped the `snooze' button. Alas, when I woke up again I came to a shocking realization; school was going to start in thirty minutes.

I moved like lightning while I was getting ready and eating breakfast. As I was about to leave I remembered that I had forgotten to say goodbye to Aunt Risa. I was just about to go back inside, but then I realized her shoes weren't even at the doorway.

She had a morning shift today? Hm, I wonder why she didn't tell me. I wonder why she didn't frickin' wake me up!

I exited with that parting thought.

 

I weaved in and out of the cars of people trying to go to work in a desperate attempt to get to school on time. I heard car horns honk at me, but I honestly didn't care.

I now have fifteen minutes to get to school...great.

Lucky for me, I ran into a massive amount of traffic due to an accident and I would have to take a really long detour in order to get to school.

I now have ten minutes. I thought. I pounded the steering wheel in frustration. I'd never been late to school and (for some reason) when a student is tardy it's a very serious matter. I just couldn't be late.

I was about to turn onto the detour when I saw the unfinished bridge that was being worked on. If the bridge were complete it would be easy to drive around the accident site and go on my way to the school.

The gap isn't that wide...it's possible that someone could actually use the one half of the bridge as a ramp to jump over to the other side...

Now you might be thinking to yourself, `This girl isn't crazy enough to jump over the unfinished bridge!'

In that case you'd be wrong. Cuz I'm Aoi Hanamori, and I'm so effing crazy the best mental health doctors out there wouldn't know what the hell to do with me!

So I sure enough did it, I sped onto the bridge and my blue car was flying through the air. For a second it seemed like I was going to miss the other side, Oh God! I need to stop watching the Fast and the Furious movies so much!

 

But if I did miss the other side that would mean the heroine would have to die, and that would just suck!

Just kidding, basically I made it to the other side and as soon as I got off, two police cars came after me! Thoughts raced through my mind as I heard the shrill sirens and saw the reflected blue and red lights.

Shit! If I get caught by these guys, not only will it make me even later, but they'll ask me for my driver's license...my nonexistent driver's license! And if they find out that I'm not legally able to drive, I'll get into a buttload of trouble. Oh that's right...Aunt Risa told me that I was supposed to take the test to get my license this weekend! But I kept putting it off...Damn you, procrastination! Why didn't I listen to my Auntie?

I now had five minutes to get to school, and I had police cars chasing me. At the moment the only thing I could think of was to try to lose them. So I did a lot of swerving and random turns to try and get them off my tail. Then, the first lucky thing to happen to me all day happened. I saw out of my rearview mirror that one police car's tire busted and the other car ran out of gas or something.

Ha! They're quite blown. No quality car service for the law enforcers!

 

I saw the school building come into view. I quickly found a parking space, parked my car, sprinted to my locker, and then sprinted to my classroom. The bell rang as soon as I walked in.

 

Hana's POV

 

I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw Aoi run through the door. Luckily the teacher was running a bit late too, because if she was here, Aoi definitely would've gotten the whole `walking in as the bell rings is just as bad as walking in ten minutes after the bell rings' speech. It's a good thing she made it though; I couldn't wait to tell her everything that had happened while she wasn't there. As soon as she sat down I started talking to her telepathically.

Where have you been? I asked. Everyone's been looking for you.

 

I was...detained by some things. She replied.

 

Meaning...?

 

Meaning I actually woke up a half an hour ago. And I've been rushing all morning to get here on time. Looks like I just made it.

 

Yeah.

We stopped talking for a moment, and then Aoi said something to me...

 

Where's your man?

 

He's in the office.

 

Hm, for what?

 

He's...taking care of Inuyasha.

 

What did that boy do now? She asked.

 

Oh yeah, he got into a fight today.

 

Wow, that's a shocker! She said sarcastically. Who was he wreckin' with today? Koga?

 

No, he was actually fighting with...you remember that creepy guy we met in the hallway a long time ago?

 

You mean Naraku?

 

Yeah! Inuyasha was fighting with him.

 

For real? Why would those two fight?

 

I'm not sure. See, me and Sessho-chan were walking together, and then we see this mob of people running outside. I saw Sango in the mob and I pulled her out. I asked her what was going on and she said she knew that there was a fight but she didn't know who it was that was fighting. She then said it was probably two demons since they were fighting outside...

 

Huh?

 

I asked her what she meant, she said that when youkai fight, they usually do it outside because of a spell or barrier or something that was put on the school when it first opened. It makes it so that demons can't use their powers when they're inside the building.

 

Ooh.

 

Long story short, we got outside, Sesshomaru broke up the fight, and those two are getting suspended as we speak. Sesshomaru's trying to work out some compromise for Inuyasha, so that he doesn't get in trouble for Inuyasha getting suspended.

 

I see. Well knowing him I'm sure he'll work something out…but then again Inuyasha has a record on him so I dunno if there's much he can do for him now.

 

Yeah…that's true.

 

Just then the teacher walked into the room, apologizing for being late. About twenty minutes later Sesshomaru finally came in the classroom, but of course the teacher didn't say anything to him.

 

When class was over I asked him how it went.

He groaned in frustration and said “Well I couldn't get him off of suspension completely but I was able to narrow it down from three weeks to a week and a half.”

“Well...that's still a good thing, right?” I said trying to sound positive.

“I suppose so but I still can't believe even Inuyasha would stoop so low to fighting over some woman.”

I rolled my eyes and said “Oh my god-don't tell me…Kikyo?”

“Hai. According to Inuyasha, Naraku was messing with Kikyo and he became infuriated and well…one thing led to another.”

“Yeah right,” I said sucking my teeth, “How much you wanna bet it was the other way around? Inuyasha was probably being stupid as usual thinking his so called angel wouldn't dare touch another man. He really needs a reality check. It's sad that almost everyone in the school knows she's a slut except for him.”

“Well that's my brother…dense as usual. What more can you expect from him?”

I sighed and said “As much as I hate to admit it…you're right.”

Sesshomaru grabbed my hand and said “Alright, enough talk about him. There are other things we could be talking about.”

“Like what?” I asked.

He grinned at me and said “Like how sexy you are.”

I blushed lightly and said “Or how `smexy' you are.”

We laughed light heartedly just as the warning bell rang. We then shared a brief kiss before going into our Pre-Calculus class.

 

Aoi's POV

 

Akazama-sensei, our Algebra 2 teacher, decided to give us a free day. He gave us one work sheet and after we finished that we could do whatever we wanted as long as we didn't get too loud. I would have got on one of the computers but some other students beat me to the punch (Kagome was one of them). So Bankotsu and I decided to just spend our time talking.

“Man I'm so happy we got a free day! I really didn't feel like doing much today.” I said.

“I know, right? And its not often the old man gives us one either.” Bankotsu said.

“Don't say that Kotsu-chan! He's not an old man!” I said playfully pushing him.

“He is an old man! That gray hair and those wrinkles? That guy's gotta be pushin' sixty!”

Akazama-sensei happened to walk by us as soon as Bankotsu made his comment, “My age isn't of any concern to you Kusao,” he said, “And Hanamori-san, get off of him. You know that behavior isn't appropriate for school.”

I was sitting on Bankotsu's lap, but it wasn't like we were disturbing anyone. But just to make him happy I got off his lap and sat back at my desk. Finally satisfied, Akazama walked away.

Bankotsu shook his head and said, “He's just mad `cuz the last time he had a girl was when the Americans bombed Hiroshima.”

I shook my head at him, “You're mean. Anyway, there's something I've been meaning to talk to you about.”

“What's that?”

“Well it turns out that my auntie wants to meet my new `boo'.” I said with a smile.

“Oh really? What a coincidence.”

“Coincidence? Lemme guess, Jakotsu wants to meet your 100% hetero girlfriend?”

Bankotsu laughed and said “Yep.”

“So…he's overcome his fear of women?”

“I guess you could say that.”

I smiled and said “Well I look forward to meeting him.”

“And I can't wait to finally meet your aunt.”

 

That following Thursday…

 

Since Aunt Risa would be busy at the hospital on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday she decided to have the little `meeting' on Thursday night. She and I had prepared a nice little dinner of fried rice, fried shrimp, and stir fry vegetables. Well, Aunt Risa did most of the cooking, I was just the little assistant who handed her the salt or whatever when she needed it.

 

Just as I finished setting the table the door bell rang. I volunteered to get it and of course it was Bankotsu. He was dressed in a pair of black slacks and a white button up shirt with black dress shoes.

“Wow…” I said in amazement. “You clean up good.”

“Well I had to make sure I looked my best.”

I shook my head and said “Well that's nice, and you look good and all but…you know you're only meeting my aunt, not the prime minister.”

“Hey, do you think she'd like me better if I wore my gang jacket and my chains?”

“Um, not really...”

“Okay then, I didn't think so...”

 

Just then Aunt Risa came to the doorway. “So this is him. You're right he is a little hottie,” she said to me after giving him a once-over.

Oh my goodness, Aunt Risa did not just call him a `hottie'. This is going to be memorable... I thought.

“Though I have ask, what's the occasion, sweetie?” Aunt Risa asked Bankotsu.

He laughed and said, “It's a pleasure to meet you Risa-san.”

“It's nice to meet you too Kotsu-chan. Can I call you that or is Aoi only allowed to call you that?”

Bankotsu scratched the back of his neck and said “I guess…”

I grabbed Aunt Risa's arm and said “No…Bankotsu-chan is fine.”

Aunt Risa gave me a look, “Well looks like someone's touchy over a nickname...but anyway come on in Bankotsu-chan,” she said making sure to emphasize the nickname for me, “Dinner's all ready.”

 

Bankotsu came in and I closed the door behind him. After taking off his shoes and putting on the guest slippers I led him into the house. Before eating Aunt Risa insisted that I showed him around the house. At one point during the tour, Bankotsu nodded his head and said “This is a real nice little cozy place ya got here.”

“Thanks. It took me a minute to get used to calling it home though…you know after moving from Okinawa.”

“Oh yeah you did say you used to live there. What was it like there?”

I sighed, starting to reminisce. “It was peaceful…and the weather was pretty much warm most of the time. The house I lived in was a nice size, a little bigger then this one. I had a nice beach view from my room. My mom was a bit of a clean freak though, so the house always smelled like Pine Sol. I lived in that house ever since I was little….”

“I see…you must miss that place a lot.”

“I do…I can't wait to go back.”

 

After the little tour we finally went into the dining room to eat. “Man this food smells great!” Bankotsu said.

“Well let's not sit here with our tummies rumbling.” Aunt Risa said.

And so we all started eating. While we ate Aunt Risa had started some small talk with Bankotsu. And then, suddenly she asked a question that completely took us both by surprise.

“So…have you two had sex?”

Bankotsu and I coughed, nearly choking on our food.

“Aunt Risa!” I said in surprise. I couldn't believe she asked that question! I was so embarrassed.

“What? It's just a question.” Aunt Risa said like it was no big deal.

“Um no Risa-san…we haven't done that.” Bankotsu said obviously feeling just as uncomfortable about it as I was.

“Oh okay. I just want you two to make responsible decisions in your relationship, that's all.”

I sighed, thinking that she wouldn't ask anymore out-there questions. But boy was I wrong.

“So have you two considered getting married?”

This time I was the only one to almost choke on my food. Bankotsu on the on other hand just took my hand and said “I'm definitely considering it.”

I blushed and smiled meekly.

Aunt Risa also smiled and said “Well of course you've got enough time to think about it. But it's nice to see you're considering it. Just so you know you've already got my blessing. You seem like a respectable and funny young man and just perfect for Aoi.”

“Well I honestly can't imagine being with anyone else.” I said.

“Aw, that's sweet,” Aunt Risa said, “You kids are so cute, I really hope you two get married and give me a whole bunch of little great nieces and nephews that are just as cute as you two!”

“Aunt Risa-! PLEASE STOP!”

 

The rest of the night went perfectly with no more awkward questions. Well, just as Bankotsu was leaving Aunt Risa hugged him and said `I look forward to seeing you again my future nephew-in-law!' but other than that everything went fine.

As I was about to go to sleep that night, I couldn't help but think about my meeting with Jakotsu.

I'm going to go meet him Friday night aren't I? Man... I thought as I rolled onto my other side.

I hope he likes me...

 

Friday night...

 

Bankotsu's POV

 

I stood by the door, looking through the peephole every so often to see if Aoi was there.

“Is she here yet?” My brother asked loudly from the living room.

“No...” I replied.

“Okay...what about now?” He asked five seconds later.

“Jakotsu!”

“Okay! Don't be so touchy!” He said pretending like he was about to cry.

“Gimme a break, drama queen,” I said looking up at the ceiling, “I'm just wonderin' where the heck she is...”

I just talked to her like five minutes ago and she said she was almost here. Where is she? Did she get lost? No, how could she get lost? I hope I didn't give her the wrong apartment number...

A knock at the door interrupted my thoughts. I looked through the peephole and saw Aoi's face.

“Finally...” I said to myself. I opened the door and took one look at her. Only one thought ran through my mind.

Damn she looks good...

She looked like she was going to a cotillion or somethin'. She was wearing a little blue dress and high-heeled shoes. And she curled her hair. She looked...well...really pretty.

“Hey there...” she said smiling at me.

“Hey.” I said. I pulled her closer to me and kissed her.

“You clean up good too.” I told her when we finally broke apart.

“Well since you went out of your way to look nice for Aunt Risa, I decided that I'd dress to impress too.” She said.

“Well you impressed me!” I said leaning in for another kiss, but Aoi pushed me away.

“I came to see your brother, not to make out with you. Well...maybe a little...oh let's just go!”

I pulled her inside and closed the door behind her. As she took her shoes off, I called my brother.

“She's here Jakotsu!” I yelled.

“YAY! Hurry up, bring her in here!” He said excitedly.

Well dang, he couldn't have gotten up and greeted her like a good host?

I just rolled my eyes and pulled Aoi further inside.

 

We found my brother sitting on the couch, eating pocky and watching some stupid talk show on television.

“Um, excuse me...” I said.

“Huh? Oh right...” He turned off the television and walked over to us.

“Jakotsu, this is Aoi. Aoi, this is my brother Jakotsu.” I said making the introductions.

“Konnichiwa, Jakotsu-san!” Aoi said smiling pleasantly and bowing.

“Don't bow, he ain't important...” I told her.

Jakotsu's lip started quivering and he looked close to tears.

“What's wrong with you?” I asked him.

“You were right Kotsu-kichi,” he said. “She is cute! Really cute! I wish you had told me she was this kawaii! Can I have a hug?”

Aoi looked embarrassed, confused, and unsure all at once.

“It's okay if you hug me ya know,” he said, “ Kotsu-kichi won't get mad, I mean it's not like I'm straight so...”

“Um...okay.” She said. She hugged him somewhat reluctantly. When I decided that they'd been hugging long enough, I stepped in between them.

“Aw, are you jealous Kotsu-kichi?” Jakotsu said.

“I-e...and can you stop calling me `Kotsu-kichi'?” I said. I think I was a little bit jealous though. I mean I know my brother's gay, but I wanna be the only guy to hold Aoi.

“Why don't you want me to call you `Kotsu-kichi'? What, you wanna look cool around your girlfriend...?”

“Um, excuse me, can we like, sit down or something?” Aoi asked.

“Oh, yeah! Let's do that! This way, sweetie!” Jakotsu said pulling Aoi away by her wrist.

 

We were all sitting down at the table, with Aoi sitting in-between Jakotsu and I, pretty much twiddling our thumbs.

“I'd love to say that I made a nice dinner for all of us,” Jakotsu said. “But you know, me being a starving college student and all, Kotsu-kichi...I mean Bankotsu and I basically live on ramen. Sorry Aoi-chan!”

“Oh, um, it's okay.” She said politely.

“So if we're not getting any food Jakotsu, why the hell did you have us sitting here looking stupid?” I had to ask.

He just shrugged his shoulders, “I dunno, so Aoi, wanna play poker?” he asked her.

“Um, I don't really know how to play poker...”

“Awesome! We can teach you how to play! Right, Bankotsu?”

I couldn't believe he wanted to spend our time teaching Aoi how to play poker.

“Jakotsu, what makes you think I would wanna teach Aoi how to gamble?”

“It'll be a learning experience!” he said.

“Right...learning experience.”

“God I need a cigarette, you got anymore Bankotsu?”

Oh my god, as soon as Aoi leaves, I'm going to kill my brother...

“I didn't know you smoked Bankotsu! You know that's bad for you! For both of you!” she said to us.

“Oh yeah, he knows,” Jakotsu said. “He just doesn't care. But I'm trying to quit!” He crossed his arms.

“No, It's the other way around! You're the one that doesn't care. I'm trying to quit!”

“Whatever, do you have any or not?” he said twirling his hair.

“NO!”

“Darn...”

I could tell that Aoi was becoming uncomfortable. Maybe if my brother wasn't acting so much like...himself...she wouldn't be uncomfortable.

“Aoi-chan, you wanna see a picture of Bankotsu when he was little?!” Jakotsu said out of the blue.

“Sure!”

Wow, this couldn't possibly get any worse...

“Oh my goodness! Kotsu-chan, you were the cutest little boy!!!”

“Yeah he was cute, but I'm the one that really got the good looks.”

“Now that you mention it Jakotsu, you two don't really look like you could be related.”

Jakotsu really doesn't look like someone who would be related to me. His hair is black like mine, but it's a lot shorter. And he has black eyes and his skin is lighter than mine. We really don't look alike.

I looked over to see exactly which picture Jakotsu had shown to her. In the picture I was like five years old and I was holding on to a white teddy bear.

“So as you can see, he's not exactly the tough guy that he makes himself seem like.” Jakotsu said in yet another attempt at trying to embarrass me.

“Can I keep this picture?” Aoi asked Jakotsu.

“Why the heck would you wanna keep that picture?!” I asked.

“Because it's cute, that's why!”

“Oh come now you little lovebirds, let's not argue! Besides, there are some very important things I need to ask you two...”

Oh no...

“Have you two had sex yet?”

I knew it...

“Well...um...I don't know why everyone is so interested in this subject, but no.”

“Oh that's good. Next question, are you a virgin Aoi? I already know Bankotsu isn't...”

I attempted to throw a nearby ashtray at his empty head, but I missed.

“Yes...I am... but can we not talk about this, please?” Aoi asked politely.

“Of course, precious!” Jakotsu said pulling her closer to him. He started stroking her hair like she was a little girl.

“Aoi-chan, you live with your auntie don't you?”

She nodded.

“We're gonna make a trade. Bankotsu is gonna go live with your aunt and you're gonna stay with me so I can hug you and cuddle you and look at your cuteness as much as I want!”

I rolled my eyes and said, “I'd rather live with her aunt than live in this cramped apartment with you.”

He let go of Aoi and glared at me. “Hey, you're only living here with me because I didn't want you to get dumped off at some crappy foster home! I barely have enough money to take care of myself. Taking care of my sixteen year old brother, and having to bail him out of jail every other week `cuz he can't stay out of trouble, it doesn't help me in any way. I do all of this to help you Bankotsu, so sound a little more grateful!”

It took me a second to notice, but Aoi was crying silently.

“What's wrong, Aoi-chan-? Look what you did, Bankotsu! Now you made her cry!”

“Can you shut the hell up, please?”

I pulled Aoi back over to me and hugged her. “What's wrong?”

“Oh nothing...” she said wiping stray tears from her face.

“Come on, something's wrong.”

“I'm just upset because we were supposed to be having a good time, and I made you two argue!”

“It's not your fault, Aoi!” I said wiping the last of the tears from her face. She didn't look any better.

“Maybe I should just go home-not that I don't wanna be here but, I just think it would be best.”

“Yeah I think so too,” I agreed. “I'll walk you to your car.”

I got her coat for her while she put her shoes on. Before we left Aoi called back, “Sayonara, Jakotsu-san!”

“Bye, my future sister-in-law, and just call me `Jakotsu' from now on, you're making me feel old! And I'm so sorry your boyfriend had to ruin our fun!”

I was thinking about yelling something back at him, but then I decided that I didn't want Aoi to get upset again, so I just left.

 

When Aoi and I got to her car, she apologized again for what happened.

I told her again that what happened wasn't her fault.

“We just have to hope that next time, things go better.” I said.

“Yeah, I guess you're right.” She said looking at the ground and twirling her hair around her finger.

“Are you sure you're gonna be okay?” I said lifting her face up to look at me.

She just smiled and said, “I'm absolutely positive.”

“Great, I'll see ya later then!” I said kissing her on the cheek.

“Bye Kotsu-chan!” She said getting in her car. When she drove away, I made my way back upstairs.

I'm so glad that's over...

 

Hana's POV

 

On Saturday I was the only employee working at Kiyoko's Sweet Shop. Chiyo had gone out of town for her super-long college winter break and Aoi had to go to cram school. I honestly felt sorry for her. After what she told me about the events of last night's meeting with Bankotsu's brother, I wouldn't want to go anywhere after dealing with that catastrophe. There were two other girls who we worked with too, but I had no idea what happened to them. And my boss wasn't there either so I was stuck all alone.

However I did get lucky. Almost no one came in throughout the entire day (which was especially odd, it being the weekend and what not), but I was still getting paid for being there so I had no problem with it.

 

Once it was about time to close, I changed back into my regular outfit and locked up the shop.

I walked out front and took my motorcycle off its stand. I decided that whenever I couldn't get a ride with Aoi to and from work, I would just use my motorcycle for transportation (in order to avoid walking home and/or possibly having another `Sayo incident'). I was about to hop on when I heard a familiar voice calling my name from across the street.

“Hana-san!!!”

I looked up and saw Rin waving at me with one hand and holding Sesshomaru's hand with the other. They started crossing the street to greet me, when they finally made it across the first thing Rin did was hug my legs in her normal fashion.

“I missed you, Hana-san!”

“How do you know I'm Hana? I'm actually Aoi...” I said trying to trick her.

“No you're not! You're Hana-san!” She said.

“Heh, I guess you're just too smart for me, aren't you Rin-chan?” I said while stroking her hair.

“Not really,” she said. “It's just kinda easy for me to tell the difference between you and Aoi-san. Besides, Aoi-san has a blue car, not a motorcycle!”

“Good point.” I said.

“Rin, is it possible that I could maybe talk to `Hana-san'?” Sesshomaru said making his presence known.

“Hai Sesshomaru-sama!” Rin said, not picking up the sarcasm in his voice.

“Arigatou.” He said.

He quickly stepped past Rin so that he was standing directly in front of me. He put his arms around my waist and kissed me. When we separated he asked me, “Would you like to do me a favor?”

“Hm...” I tapped my finger on my head like I was actually thinking about it, “Sure, what's up?”

“Well, there's somewhere I need to be in about five minutes. However I still need to take Rin home and if I try to take her home now I'll be late...”

“So you want me to take her home for you?” I said finishing his sentence.

“Hai.”

“Of course I can do it!”

“Arigato Gozaimasu Hanako, this means a lot to me. And Rin you can tell her where you live, right?” He said turning his attention to Rin.

“I sure can!” She said with a smile.

“Good. Well I guess I'll see you two later.” Sesshomaru said.

“I guess so.” I said. I kissed him on the cheek and once he said goodbye to Rin, he left.

“Okay Rin, jump on!” I said patting the motorcycle seat.

“But Hana-san, don't I need a helmet?”

Crap! I only brought one helmet with me.

“You're right Rin, here you can take mine. I'll just have to drive carefully.”

As I helped Rin with the helmet, I asked her where she lived.

“I live at the Kizuna Foster Home; it's not that far from here...”

“I think I've passed that place before. I think I know how to get there from here.”

Kizuna Foster Home...and she did say someone named Kizuna-san took care of her. I don't know how I didn't make that connection.

“Okay sweetie, you're good to go!” I said to Rin. “You're not afraid are you?”

She shook her head, “Sesshomaru-sama always drives faster than the speed limit, so being on a fast motorcycle won't bother me at all.”

I just nodded and said, “Oh...okay.”

I think I might have to talk to him about that later...

 

“Is this the place, Rin?”

“Yeah!”

We had finally arrived in front of the Kizuna Foster Home. It wasn't really big, but not quite small either. And it was kind of aged, like it had been around for a while.

I parked my motorcycle next to the building. After I helped Rin take her helmet off, I walked her up to the front door of the Home.

I rang the doorbell a couple of times before someone decided to open the door. Standing before Rin and me was a young woman, probably in her mid or late thirties, she had long, brown hair that cascaded down her shoulders and dark-brown eyes that looked...somewhat cruel.

“Konnichiwa Kizuna-san!” Rin exclaimed.

“Rin, get in here! Do you have any idea what time it is?” Kizuna-san said. She sounded more like she was yelling at her teenage son rather than a little girl.

“No, I don't know.” Rin said passively.

Kizuna-san turned back to me and looked me up and down. “Who is this you have with you?” She asked.

“Oh, that's Hana-san!”

“Konnichiwa.” I said bowing.

Kizuna-san sighed and said, “Honestly Rin, you have to stop coming home with strangers all the time!”

“But Hana-san isn't a stranger Kizuna-san,” Rin said while taking her shoes off. “She's Sesshomaru-sama's girlfriend.”

“Hai ma'am, Sesshomaru asked me to take Rin home because he had somewhere to go.” I said.

“Oh, well I appreciate you bringing her back here...Rin go inside! It's almost time for you to eat anyway!”

“Okay...bye Hana-san!” Rin said waving at me.

“Bye sweetie!” I said as she walked away.

When Rin was out of earshot, Kizuna-san began to interrogate me.

“So, this Sesshomaru-sama, who is he to you really? I mean, you're not really his girlfriend are you?”

“Um, yes, I am.”

“Oh,” she said looking embarrassed, “I see. Is he one of those men that are more interested in younger girls than girls his own age?”

Nani?

“Um, if you don't mind me asking, what would make you think that?”

“Well I mean, he's with Rin all the time. And when you told me that you were his girlfriend I thought you seemed kind of...young.”

“Ma'am I'm not sure how old you think he is, but Sesshomaru's only seventeen.”

Once again, she looked embarrassed. And really I would be embarrassed by now too if I were her.

“My mistake, you know I couldn't help but think the worst. People like him don't exactly rub me the right way if you get what I'm saying.”

People like him? Are you serious?

“I actually don't get what you're saying ma'am. And once again if you don't mind me asking, even though you were wrong about Sesshomaru, if you suspected him to be behaving inappropriately with Rin, why didn't you do anything about it?”

Suddenly Kizuna-san `heard someone calling her' and excused herself. I wished her a good night before she closed the door in my face.

 

As I was driving home, my meeting with Kizuna-san played over again in my mind.

Not only does she not take care of the kids that have been put in her possession, she's a nasty racist too!

I thought about her comment about how `people like Sesshomaru don't rub her the right way'.

Tch, well you don't rub me the right way either...bitch.