InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Last Girlfriend ❯ Chapter 4 ( Chapter 4 )

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

Disclaimer:Own Inu-chan I do not.
Own Itokuzu-pi(Sesshoumaru) I do not.
Own Miroku-san and Sango-san?
.......... -.- I don't and I wish I did.

Additional Disclaimer: I don't own author Valerie Frankel's book "The Girlfriend Curse", from which this story I've made a parody of(somewhat). So nobody sue me, or accuse me of plagiarism if you've read the book. I'm just altering some stuff, but the storyline remains indifferent all the same.

X) Oh yeah. The names of the characters, locations and events are plain fictitious.

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"I'm thinking of leaving Tokyo." Sango announced. She sat at her parents' Indonesian teak dining room table. She'd come uptown to Higashi 86th Street for Kohaku's thirtieth birthday dinner.

Reiko Fuyuzuki, Sango's mom, a real estate lawyer, sat opposite of her. "Very funny. Eat your chicken."

Sango dropped her fork on the plate. "Things aren't working for me here. I'm a square peg. I need a square hole. Tokyo is a round hole!"

"It's definitely a hole." Kohaku agreed.

"A whole universe of opportunity!" declared Shirome, Sango's dad, a tax attorney. "That's so corny. Forgive me."

"Onee, tell us more about how square you are." Kohaku said to her.

Kohaku was fifty pounds heavier and six inches taller than Sango. But he'd always be her bratty little brother. Whenever she came uptown to the apartment she grew up in, try as she might to resist, she couldn't ward off the slide of regression. One foot outside the apartment, Sango was an independent thirty-two-year old woman. One foot inside, she was a petulant, angst-ridden teenager.

She looked directly at him with a scowl. "At least I'm not a loser who spends my thirtieth birthday with my parents."

Kohaku shrugged. "It's a small price to pay for free housing."

Her brother was one of those men. No rent to pay, so he was flush with cash to spend on clothes and shows. No laundry to do, no dishes to wash, nor meals to prepare. He was rich with time to stay in shape. Therefore, Kohaku had his pick of girlfriends, who managed to overlook or ignore his living arrangement. Rin, prime example, actually believed that Kohaku was perpetually on the verge of moving out. But he hadn't for eight years.

"Your brother is not a loser." Reiko defended as she started cleaning plates.

Shirome, on cue, rose from his chair.

"Your mother's not a waitress, kids." he said to them both. He'd been saying that since Sango was seven. He followed his wife out of the dining room and into the kitchen, arms laden with plates.

Sango and Kohaku remained seated. Crossing her arms, Sango declared, "I'm not getting out of this chair until someone takes me seriously."

"Okaa!" called her brother. "Onee's not helping!"

"Where's Kanna tonight?" she asked him.

Kanna Midorikawa was Kohaku's latest. She fit his type perfectly: light-years ahead of him, but willing to stoop to his level out of desperation.

"She's waiting in the lobby." he whispered.

"You're making her wait in the lobby?" Sango shook her head shamefully at her brother. "You are truly a pig."

"If she comes up, we'll never get out of here."

Kohaku and Kanna had been together nearly a year. They met at Citibank corporate headquarters, where they arranged mortgages and home equity loans for the Private Bank clients(net worth in excess of 56 million yen). Kanna had her own place in Hoshihara, a roomy, sunny studio, close to work, that could be converted into a one-bedroom. She wanted Kohaku to move in. But he was reluctant to ditch the comforts of home.

Sango leaned back on her chair. "Kanna should have dumped you months ago."

"She won't." he replied. "She loves me."

"I'm buzzing the lobby." their mother announced, apparently hearing every word of their conversation from the kitchen. "She shouldn't be sitting down there with that American Carl. He's flirtatious!"

"Don't!" Kohaku immediately rose. "I'm on the way out."

"But I made cake." his mother told him. "I'm sure Kanna-chan would love to have some."

"Kanna doesn't eat cake."

"She'll eat this cake." Reiko was now frowning at her son. "I don't care how embarassed you are of us. It's dangerous to leave that girl in the lobby. I'm ashamed of you!"

"Is she afraid of us, Kohaku?" their father asked. "You never bring her home. And we respect your privacy. So what goes on in your room is your business."

Sango listened as her family hashed over the logistics of Kohaku's personal life. As usual, their discussion had nothing to do with her. It was her little brother's world, this apartment. They indulged him like an emperor. It'd been this way since Kohaku was ten, when he fractured both legs in a Little League football game. Sango, then twelve, witnessed the incident. Kohaku took a hit, went flying and landed funny on the field in Tokyo Park. Their mother ran after the kid who did the hit.

"He's an animal! he should be put on a leash or locked up!" she had screamed at the tackler's parents, who were equally horrified by the accident.

Shirome moaned for his son and himself, saying, "He inherited my non-athleticism! Why oh why couldn't I have been more coordinated!?"

Kohaku had to stay in traction for eight weeks. Their parents took care of his every need, and hadn't stopped yet, despite his complete recovery and seamlessly healed bones. Kohaku, who'd gone to Tokyo University as his sister, was a ranked amateur snowboarder in his college years.

Sango got the attention she needed growing up. Certainly not more than she needed or got like Kohaku. She might have wanted more, but she wisely adjusted her needs to meet the available resources. After a while, she'd adjusted so well that she started to bristle if anyone paid more than enough attention to her, especially teachers and pushy female friends. She preferred everyone at an arm's length, which was a comfortable distance.

Hence, her choice of profession, her one day-to-day friend, her flight from Higashi 86th Street at the earliest opportunity. The day after graduation from Tokyo University, Sango went real estate shopping with her mother Reiko. They saw the Momoiro Street apartment on the second day, and made an offer. Reiko represented her in the 5600000 yen purchase(down payment provided by Shirome). This was a decade ago, and Sango had reimbursed her father in full. And the apartment was hers. It was Sango's only investment, her only nest egg. She wasn't sure what it was worth now--probably double what she'd paid. Sango often fantasized about selling it and living off the capital gains in some rural setting where she could plant acres and acres of property and nurture her landscaping for decades. Maybe even nurture her soul, too.

Sango decided to break the family argument, saying, "Tokyo has infertile soil."

"What does that have to do with Kanna-chan?" Reiko asked.

"Okaa-san, listen to me!" Sango pleaded. "Did you piss off some gypsy, or screw a witch out of an apartment? To your knowledge, has anyone ever cursed you and your children to a life of solitude?"

"I did have a client once from Europe." her mother told her thoughtfully. "He sounded exactly like Bela Lugosi."

"How can you feel cursed to a life of solitude when you have a family who loves and supports you?" asked the father.

"Corny." Sango pointed out.

Shirome raised his hands in surrender and shrugged. "My curse."

She rose to her feet. "Happy birthday Kohaku. I wish you many more years of arrested development."

She air-kissed around, and headed for the front door.

"Send Kanna-chan up!" called her mother after her.

"I will!"

"You weren't serious before!" her father watched his daughter's retreating back. "About leaving Tokyo?"

Sango shook her head. Tokyo was all she'd ever known. Except for family vacations to Europe and the Caribbean, and the occasional weekend in New England, Sango had barely left the island of Japan. For good or ill, Tokyo was her home. The idea of moving was a mental exercise, a fantasy.

"I could never leave." and she was out the door.

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Onee - term for the older sister, which is a less honorific way of addressing. More like plain, and on a more level relationship.

Okaa - term for mother, same as above