InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Phony Digits ❯ Square Peg in a Round Hole ( Chapter 14 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Disclaimer: InuYasha is the property of Rumiko Takahashi. I have nothing.

Chapter Fourteen: Square Peg in a Round Hole

"How are you doing today, InuYasha?" a chipper female voice sounded from behind him.

InuYasha swiveled around in his desk chair to find the mail girl standing at the opening of his cubicle. He already knew who it was before he turned. Her perfume had been cloying his delicate nose since she exited the elevator. She was quite popular with most of the men in the building, mostly due to the fact that she possessed, and revealed, a copious amount of cleavage, of which she was apparently quite proud. InuYasha also had it on good authority, that she had a major youkai fetish; particularly youkai with noticeable non-human characteristics. The 'good authority' being his nose, and the fact that she had screwed half the youkai on this floor, if not the entire building. Apparently word of his breakup had made it all the way to the ground floor.

"Fine thanks." he answered abruptly without making eye contact.

"Let's see here…" she said as she leaned over the cart to thumb through the mail, pressing her breasts against the handlebar and pushing them halfway up to her chin.

InuYasha cleared his throat uncomfortably, and diverted his eyes back to his computer screen.

"Ah, here we are!" the girl chirped as she pulled out a small stack of mail from the cart and placed on the corner of his desk. "So, any big plans this weekend?" she asked leadingly.

"Yep." he said without turning to look at her. He didn't have any plans, but he wasn't about to let her know that.

"Anything interesting?" she prodded.

Geez...this girl can't take a hint…

"No." he answered simply.

"Oh…okay...I guess I'll see you Monday, then..." she said, disappointment apparent in her voice as she moved on the next cubicle.

A few minutes later, once she'd had time to move from ear shot, InuYasha's co-worker at a neighboring desk rose up over the cubicle wall. "Dude!" he said, looking down at InuYasha. "You are so oblivious! The mail girl totally wants you to fuck her!"

InuYasha rolled his eyes before looking up to face the man. "I'm not oblivious, Travis, I'm just not interested."

"Not interested?! Why the hell not? Are you queer?"

"No." InuYasha huffed. "I'm just not interested in being anyone's fuck toy."

"Are you crazy?! That is literally the perfect scenario! All the sex without having to put up with a nagging bitch twenty-four seven." He leered at the girl who was now on the other side of the room. "You know she'd be into all kinds of freaky shit... Almost makes me wish I had some animal body parts..."

"Keh! Guess you're not counting your squirrel dick, then." InuYasha shot back.

The douchebag sputtered at the insult. "Hey! I was just messing around, man. You need to learn how to take a joke!"

"You need to learn how to shut the fuck up!" InuYasha snapped.

The struggle not to beat the shit out of this guy was becoming more and more difficult with each passing day. He was quite used to dealing with ignorant people, but if there was a more vile creature on planet earth, Inuyasha had yet to meet him. He wasn't sure if the guy was intentionally offensive, or if he was just too much of an idiot to know the difference. Either way, InuYasha hated him, and if he didn't know he would get fired for it, he'd probably punch him in the face. If he didn't know he'd go to prison for it, he might just kill him...

Thankfully, his phone rang just in time to distract him from his murderous thoughts.

The coworker lowered himself back into his respective cubicle with a huff as InuYasha turned away to answer his phone.

"Hello?"

"Hi, sweetheart. How is your day?"

"Great. Just great." InuYasha answered his mother with no small amount of facetiousness in his tone.

"Well, I was just calling because I'm going to be in the city today and I was wondering if you'd like to have dinner with me."

"Uhh…" InuYasha glanced at his desk calendar that he already knew had nothing on it. "Yeah, I can do that. When and where?"

"How about that place we went to for you father's birthday? What was the name of it? Edward's? Edwin's?"

"I think it was Edmund's."

"Hmm...no...that doesn't sound right…"

He let out a dramatic sigh. "Well, the name doesn't really matter, I know where it is. I have to wear a tie there, don't I?"

"Yes, InuYasha."

He sighed again. "Okay, fine."

"Great! I'll meet you there at seven-thirty."

"Okay, gotta go Mom."

"See you soon."

<<>>

The first thing that InuYasha noticed upon arriving at the restaurant was that he was right; it was named Edmund's. Not that it was a competition or anything…

But if it was a competition, he would have won.

He entered the restaurant and began scanning the room looking for his mother. She was apparently, and not at all to his surprise, fashionably late. As he made his way to the bar to await her arrival, he caught a whiff of a very familiar scent, and subsequently the sight of an all too familiar face.

There, alone at a table set for two, sat Kikyo. Not Kagome, or some other unknown look-alike, but the actual, real Kikyo; and of course, he caught her eye before he could slip away unnoticed. She lifted her hand and sent a wave and a smile in his direction.

Deja fucking vu, InuYasha thought as he trudged slowly to her table like he was headed to his own execution.

"Hello, InuYasha." she greeted him with what appeared to be a genuine warm smile.

"Hi." he greeted back. "Umm...you haven't...my mom didn't call you or anything did she?" he asked. He had to ask....

"No…" she furrowed her brow and shook her head. "why?"

"No reason…" he said, shoving his hands in his pockets nonchalantly. He just needed to make sure that his mom wasn't trying to set him up. Seemed like something she would do...

"So, how have you been?" she asked. "It seems like I haven't seen you in ages."

"Uhh…" InuYasha just stood there speechless. Why was she being so nice to him? Shouldn't she be mad at him? Shouldn't she be breathing fire or shooting laser beams out of here eyes right about now?

"Would you like to have a seat?" she asked, motioning to the chair across from her.

"Umm...sure...I guess." he said as he took a seat. "You meeting someone here?"

"Yes. Do you remember my associate David Cartwright?"

InuYasha nodded. "Yeah, he was one of the... senior partners when you did your internship..." he put extra emphasis on the word senior, as he remembered well the man she was talking about, and he was no less than twenty years her senior…

"Yes. Well, I ran into him again...it was on the day you and I broke up actually… As it turns out, he'd been living in my building all this time and we just hadn't ever run into each other before that day. So...anyway, long story short, we started dating, and well…we're...actually getting married in June." she said, the fingers of her right hand nervously turning the large diamond ring on her left.

InuYasha just sat there gaping, not entirely sure what he should say. Wow...that was fast…but Kikyo never was the type to waste time once she knew what she wanted, he thought to himself. He was surprised that he didn't feel a hint of jealousy. In fact, he couldn't help but think better him than me.

The irony of Kikyo finding the love of her life on the very same day he met Kagome wasn't lost on him either.

He shook his head of that thought. "Umm...Congratulations." he said. "I'm happy for you, Kikyo. I really am."

"Thank you." she said smiling. For whatever reason, she seemed relieved to have his approval.

InuYasha couldn't help but notice the difference in her demeanor. She appeared much less uptight and controlling than when they were together. "InuYasha…" she said, and then hesitated, her expression turning serious. "I just want you to know that I really did love you. I wanted it to work between us, but... it would never have worked." she said, shaking her head. "I was angry with you at first, when you turned me down, but I've come to realize that us getting married would have been a huge mistake. I think we both know that now. "

Despite being slightly irritated by her assumption, InuYasha couldn't deny that it was the truth. He nodded in agreement.

"We were mismatched. I was always trying to make you into the kind of man I was looking for, and it wasn't fair to you and I'm sorry about that. I know I was a little overbearing to say the least."

InuYasha snorted. "It's okay."

"No, it's not okay. I hope you can forgive me." she said, reaching across the table and wrapping her slender fingers around his wrist.

InuYasha was shocked by her apology. He thought for sure that he was the one that should be asking for forgiveness. "Keh. Nothing to forgive." he said with a shrug.

She gave him a half smile. "Still the same as ever, I see."

"Well, I should probably get going." he said, looking at his watch for effect as he stood to leave. "It was good seeing you again."

"It was good seeing you too, InuYasha." she said before standing and giving him a hug. He could hardly remember her ever giving him hugs when they were dating.

"Oh, David's here!" Kikyo said as she saw her fiancé enter the restaurant over InuYasha shoulder.

The man approached them, apologizing for his tardiness and giving Kikyo a hug and kiss on the cheek before turning to InuYasha.

"InuYasha! Long time no see." he greeted him with an outstretched hand.

"Mr. Cartwright." InuYasha greeted back with a nod as he accepted the handshake.

"Please, call me David." the man said. "Mr. Cartwright is my father." he chuckled and InuYasha resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the lame and grossly overused joke.

"Speaking of fathers," David said. "how is your old man doing? I haven't seen him in years."

"He's fine." InuYasha answered him. "He moved out of the city a few years ago, so he doesn't make it to all the fundraisers and shit he used to."

He could almost feel Kikyo stiffen at his crass choice of words, but she remained silent.

"Well, tell him I said- Oh! Speak of the devil!" David exclaimed, looking somewhere past InuYasha.

InuYasha suppressed the urge to vomit as he turned to look over his shoulder and saw that, sure enough, his mother and father had just entered the restaurant together.

"Fuck! Fucking fuck!" the hanyou cursed under his breath.

David gave him a look of concern. "Everything okay there?" he asked.

"Yeah, sorry." InuYasha apologized halfheartedly.

His mother caught sight of them first and grabbed his father's hand, pulling him along in their direction. "Hi, sweetie!" his mother greeted him with a hug.

"Hey, Mom."

"Have you gotten skinnier?" she said, poking at his ribs. "You look skinnier."

"No Mom, I'm not skinnier." he grumbled.

"Leave him alone, Iz." InuYasha's father said as he joined in on the conversation.

InuYasha was sweating bullets. If he was going to avoid a truly mortifying situation, he needed to say something, and fast. He was really starting to regret asking his mom not to tell his dad about the breakup.

"Kikyo, lovely as ever." InuYasha's father greeted her with a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Thank you." she said with a smile.

"And David!" he greeted the other man enthusiastically. "How have you been?"

"Never better!" David answered. "And yourself?"

"Oh, I certainly can't complain." Mr. Taisho said. "And how is Cynthia?"

InuYasha visibly cringed.

"Cynthia and I are divorced actually. Have been for a couple of years now."

"Oh," InuYasha's father said. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"Don't be! It wasn't meant to be." David said with a wave of his hand, before wrapping his arm around Kikyo's waist and pulling her to his side. "It was for the best."

His father froze, and several seconds of the most painfully uncomfortable silence of InuYasha's life passed before another word was spoken. He could feel his dad's heavy gaze upon him, but couldn't bring himself to return the eye contact.

"We should probably go before they give our reservation away, Dear." Izayoi said to her husband as she hooked her elbow around his.

"Yes." Mr. Taisho said, turning from his son to his wife. "Yes. We really should get going. It was good seeing the two of you again." he said to the couple.

The five of them said their respective goodbyes and Kikyo and her fiancé took a seat while the three Taisho's made their way to claim their own table. Not one word was spoken amongst the three of them until they had all settled into their seats.

InuYasha's father was the one to finally break the silence. "So," he said sharply. "what has been happening in your life, son? I seem to have fallen out of the loop."

InuYasha sighed. "Well, I obviously ain't with Kikyo anymore, in case you didn't notice." he snapped.

"No need to be testy. I was only asking."

"Yeah, but you were asking in that smug way you do when you already know something and just wanna make me say it."

"Well, let me ask you something I don't already know then," he said as he unrolled his napkin and folded it onto his lap. "what happened?"

InuYasha crossed his arms over his chest and inhaled a deep breath, letting it out slowly through his nose. "We just decided that we wanted different things."

"And it took you six years to figure that out?"

InuYasha shrugged. "Guess so."

"When did this happen? The two of you were together on New Years…"

"It was just like a week after that."

"So, just a couple months ago and she already has a new boyfriend?" his father asked.

"Just a couple months ago and she already has a fiancé." InuYasha corrected.

His mother let out a little gasp. "Oh no!" she said, pressing her hands to her cheeks.

"So she dated you for years and never wanted to get married, then she dated David for a few weeks and they are already engaged?" his father asked. "Sounds like a gold digger to me."

"No, Dad." InuYasha defended her. "She did want to marry me."

"Then why didn't she marry you instead?" his mother asked.

"Because I didn't want to marry her."

She gasped again. "But why?!"

"I just didn't want to. Since when is not wanting to marry someone not a good enough excuse not to marry them?" he asked.

"It is." his father chimed in. "Your mother is just upset, and understandably so. Kikyo had become like a part of the family. I guess we just assumed she always would be."

"Yeah, well, she ain't." InuYasha huffed.

"I understand." his dad said. "So, have you been seeing anyone new?" he changed the subject nonchalantly.

"No."

"Oh!" his mother exclaimed as an idea came to her. "I know the perfect girl for you, Yasha! My jazzercise instructor, Cindy!"

InuYasha gave her a blank look. "No."

"How can you say no when you haven't even met her?"

"I don't need to meet your Jazzercise instructor to know I'm not interested."

"Leave the boy be, Izayoi."

"He's not a boy, Taisho. He's thirty years old!"

"Exactly. So he's plenty old enough to make his own decisions and deal with his own mistakes."

"So, you think me not marrying Kikyo was a mistake?" InuYasha cut in.

"That's not what I meant, InuYasha."

"Really? Then what did you mean?"

His father paused. "This really isn't appropriate dinner conversation." he said finally.

"Yeah, that's what I thought you'd say." InuYasha grumbled.

There was an uncomfortable lull in the conversation, and the waitress arrived to take their orders just in the nick of time, but after she departed the table fell back into silence.

Mr. Taisho eventually broke the silence by clearing his throat. "So, InuYasha, how is work."

"It's fine."

"You know, there is always a place for you in the company."

"Yeah," InuYasha responded. "I seem to recall you mentioning something like that once or twice before." he said facetiously. He couldn't remember a time in the last ten years that his father didn't try to lure him back into the family business.

"You'd have to start out working under your brother, but eventually you could work your way up to being partners."

"And that's supposed to be a selling point?" InuYasha asked.

"No, the selling point is that you'd be accepting your multi-million dollar inheritance."

"When have I ever given the impression that I gave a shit about your money?"

"You've never given me the impression that you give a shit about anything, InuYasha." his father scolded him. "It isn't about the money, it's about taking responsibility. I've worked hard to pass a legacy on to my sons and I don't appreciate it being thrown back in my face."

"And I don't appreciate your interests being forced on me. What does it matter to you, anyway? You'll still be running this company long after me and mom are decorations on your mantlepiece." InuYasha said.

"InuYasha, that's enough!" his mother snapped, effectively silencing him.

Immediately InuYasha regretted the words he had spoken in anger. He knew that he and his mother's lifespans were a sensitive subject with his father. This was his trademark move: letting his temper get the best of him and saying the most hurtful thing he could possibly say.

Youkai lived much longer, and were generally much more powerful and resilient than humans. Hanyou, on the other hand, were not so predictable in their strength or longevity. InuYasha, while as strong as any full youkai, was aging every bit as fast as his human mother. For InuYasha's father, it was a sad reality; one that he had no choice but to accept since falling in love with a human. Although, he tried not to dwell on it too often. He could only hope that he'd one day have grandchildren to fill the empty space they would leave behind; but he'd learned long ago that that was also a sensitive subject.

"I'm sorry I said that." InuYasha said contritely.

"It's okay, son." his father said. "When you have children of your own, you will understand."

InuYasha's answer was to close his eyes and let out an exaggerated sigh.

From that point on the conversation was mostly casual, or at least, as casual as any conversation could be between he and his family members. Since it seemed that every facet of InuYasha's life was currently a touchy subject, his parents discussed, at length, the goings-on of their own lives. InuYasha found his mind wandering back to Kikyo. His hindsight on their relationship had been so clear. She had been nagging, controlling, berating, condescending, emasculating…

Hadn't she?

It had seemed that way until he saw her here tonight. Happy, smiling, calm, content…

And what was the one thing that had changed in her life?

He wasn't in it anymore…

So, maybe it was him. Maybe it had been him all along. Maybe he was the cancer that ate away at every meaningful relationship in his life. Kikyo had said that neither of them were at fault. That they were just incompatible. Perhaps that was true, it could be that they brought out the worst in each other...

But if that were true, why was she blossoming in his absence while he remained unchanged?

Because I'm too stubborn to change, that's why…

Or maybe the difference was that she had found the person that brought out the best in her.

And maybe he had found that person, too, and had sent her away like a fool...

He thought over these things as he half-listened to his mother ramble on about her various social gatherings, nodding and smiling in all the appropriate places. As the night drew to a close, and he and his parents said their goodbyes and went their separate ways, he made a decision. He was going to try to fix what he had screwed up.

On the walk over to the subway station, he took out his phone and typed a message to Kagome.

"Hey, I know you probably still hate my guts, but I would really like to apologize and explain myself if you will give me a chance."

He read it over several times and nodded. He thought it sounded okay. He only hoped Kagome thought so too.

<<>>

A/N: This should go without saying, but the opinions of any random douchebag co-workers are not those of the author.

Have a glorious day,