InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Last Girlfriend ❯ Chapter 16 ( Chapter 16 )

[ 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.

It's gonna be a little citrus-y. e,e And I'm sad to say that it won't be Miroku/Sango...

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

"Not dates exactly." said Miroku. "We call them "interpersonal exercises"."

The Inward Bounders--having suffered through one more day of metawhorisms while weeding the flower beds surrounding the mansion("Weeds grow quickly and choke off nutrients for the plants that grow slowly and bear fruit." Shima had said while Sango stabbed the wet earth with her trowel)--sat in the living room for their intro to Week Two. It was already afternoon.

"You will be paired off each night. Shima and I will chaperone and observe your behavior. The next day, you'll be evaluated on your performance, and given goals to enact the following night."

Keiko became thoughtful. "Three couples, and only two of you?"

"I'll have auxiliary chaperones." Miroku told them. "Friends of mine."

They ate an early supper, and he instructed each Inward Bounder to find a quiet spot and make a list of goals for Week Two. The list was supposed to reflect any new thinking about relationships gained during Week One.

Sango decided to swim across the river for less than a quarter-mile distance, and hang out on the Hokkaido University boat dock. She'd take in some sun, gawk at the undergraduate crew guys, and think. Ideas might flow if she was away from the Federal, and away from Kuranosuke.

The time spent with the camp girls had dislodged long-buried hurts in Sango's mind, blackening her mood for two solid days. As she changed into her bikini and went outside, she realized that her adolescent miseries had only been extended in her adult dating life. All along, she'd been chasing the approval of men. Searching for the thrill of puppy love, the uncomplicated joys of attention, being asked to dance, not being the girl alone in the corner. Except, for all the male approval she'd won, her relationships hadn't moved beyond puppy love. She'd never had a mature love, one that was founded on solid ground. This was exactly what Shima and Miroku had been beating into her head for a week.

The message had reached its target. And now, if her intellectual reckoning could squelch her unrelenting sex drive, maybe she could--by luck or will--lift the Curse of the Ultimate Girlfriend. Maybe one day, not too many years from now, she'd find lasting happiness.

She dove off the Federal's puny dock. The water was cold at first. Sango swam in long strokes, reaching the other side quickly. She hoisted herself onto the Hokkaido University boat dock, the floating cubes of plastic held together by thick wire, and found a spot on the end to dangle her feet, far enough away from the score of university kids on summer session to avoid eavesdropping on their conversations. She lay back, enjoying the bobbing sensation as the dock rose and fell with the waves of a passing motorboat.

Minutes later, a shadow darkened her eyes. She opened them, having to blink, and saw a male figure standing over her, arms at his sides, wet hair dripping, dressed in surfer-style swim trunks.

"I like your bikini."

"Kura-kun, we're supposed to be alone, in quiet contemplation of the various ways we've fucked up all our lives." she said to him.

He sat down next to her, his feet splashing into the water. "I watched you swim over here."

"Miroku told me he'd kick me out if I didn't back away from you."

"You let that stop you? I thought you came here for me."

Kuranosuke seemed hurt when he said that.

"I did." she answered. "But since I'm in this program, I thought I'd try to get something good out of it. You should too."

"I haven't been impressed so far with Miroku's methods. I've sawed tree branches, hauled well water, and milked cows." he looked at her. "The only good thing I'm going to get out of this is you."

Before she could respond, Kuranosuke leaned on his elbow and kissed her.

"You milked a cow?" Sango asked when he pulled away.

"It was pretty cool. I tugged an udder."

"What was the relationship moral?"

"Something about naked vulnerability." he answered.

"Don't say "naked"." Sango barely had any clothes on as it was.

"Can we find a more private spot?" Kuranosuke glanced back at the students.

"Are you sure you want to walk past all those girls in your condition?" she asked, eyeing his swim trunks.

"I'll give them the thrill of their lives." he answered, laughing. "The suit has a pretty good lining. And it's baggy."

Sango would have loved to go off with Kura-kun, find a spot among the trees on the hill behind the boathouse. But what of her inchoate insight?

"Maybe we should wait until the program is over. It's only three weeks."

"I can't wait." he was looking at her beseechfully.

From the look in his eyes and the tightness of his voice, Sango knew he meant it. Of course he could wait. Sexual frustration wasn't, as of yet, a high-ranking killer among Japanese males. He just didn't want to. For the first time, instead of being swept up by a man's urgency, Sango was able to think first.

A clear sign of progress!

She would have to tell Miroku.

"I think we should stay right here and have a nice conversation." she suggested. "We could get to know each other better. Become friends. Did you know that relationships that start as friendships are more likely to end in marriage?"

"And relationships that begin with passion are bound to fail?"

"Of course not."

Kuranosuke grinned. "Okay then."

He leaned down and kissed her again, a sweet brushing of lips and the touching of cheeks warmed by the sun.

"Let's take a walk." he said.

"I'm not going anywhere."

A couple of the students were looking at them now.

"The kids are watching us." she informed him.

"If you won't leave, we'll have to frighten the children."

He lay down next to her and started sucking her ear. Sucking, nibbling, licking just the fleshy lobe. The sensation, the snapping to of her nerve endings. He might as well have been sucking(nibbling, licking) her in another place, the way she responded. A moan of lust and defeat escaped her lips, and Sango gave in. She'd let him. But they'd stay on the dock. How far would he try to go in full view of a dozen people? A simple kiss wasn't diving feetfirst into disaster. It was nothing, if but a trifle.

When they came up for air, the sun had disappeared behind the mountains, and the dock was dark and deserted. Hours had gone by since they'd began.

"Finally, we're alone." Kuranosuke told Sango.

He went for her bikini strap.

What now? she wondered.

He unhooked her top, and pulled it off. He moved on top of her and whispered, "This is right, you know it is."

It was a beautiful night. Warm, quiet, the water lapping gently on the dock, as silvery clouds moved against the black sky.

Did she see herself as someone who would have sex on a university boat dock with a man she'd met a week ago?

In her previous life, that would've been "strongly agree". When she'd swum out here, it would've been "strongly disagree".

And now?

Kuranosuke put his hand inside her bikini bottom and her resolve melted. She couldn't be strong all the time. She was only human. And woman.

Sango closed her eyes.

Suddenly, a beam of light hit her lids, as if the sun had been turned back on.

"What the fuck?" Kuranosuke rolled off.

Sango pulled herself up on her elbows, and squinted. They were both trapped in a white circle, the beam coming from a point at the top of the dock. The light was so bright, when she looked at Kuranosuke, and at her own half-nude body, she could see every detail, as if it were high noon.

"You two!" shouted a voice behind the beam. "You're trespassing on private property!"

As Sango fumbled for her bikini top, Kuranosuke stood and shouted back, "Turn off the damn flashlight!"

Flashlight? It's a klieg light! she thought in panic.

"Leave the premises immediately, or I'll arrest you for indecent exposure and lewd behavior!" the policeman/security guard ordered.

"You can't arrest us!" Kuranosuke yelled defiantly. "We're citizens, with rights!"

This wasn't the time for civil disobedience.

"Kura-kun, let's just go." Sango urged.

But where? Back into the water? It was black as ink. Walk over the bridge and the additional half-mile to the Federal in a bikini and bare feet? Unlikely.

She tried to look across the river to locate the mansion, but from within the beam of light, she couldn't see anything.

The next sound she heard was the squawk of a walkie-talkie, and the policeman spoke again. "I've got two trespassers on the crew dock, and they're giving me a hard time. Better come on down with the squad car and the stun gun."

Sango didn't like the sound of that.

Without further hesitation, she slid into the river, Kuranosuke following after her shouting, "Come and get me if you've got the balls!"

The white beam stayed on them as they swam, making it nearly impossible to see where they were going. As they made some distance, Sango thought the light would fade. She was wrong. It was just as bright from halfway across the river.

And then, as if one klieg light wasn't enough, another tracker beam hit them, this one from the other side. Instinct told her the second beam was coming from the Inward Bound Federal. She swam towards it, as Kuranosuke swam next to her, continuing to holler insults at the cop.

A bullhorn sounded from behind them. "Don't come back to Sapporo if you know what's good for you!"

That blast made all the houses along the river light up. Suddenly, more beams were on them. Three, four, five. Aimed right at them as if they were fugitives on the run. Sango thought she could hear laughter and whistles bouncing across the water.

Finally, Sango and Kuranosuke made it to the other side. They couldn't find the boat dock, so they had to wade through slimy weeds to get up on the bank. Once there, the whoops and whistles got louder. Standing next to her in the circle of light, Kuranosuke took a bow. She could hear applause and laughter from all directions. He waved at the spectators he couldn't see, pumping his arms over his head like a prizefighter. Sango left him in the spotlight, and trudged up the hill. She got her bearings and found the footpath along the river.

When she reached the Federal's dock, she was hit anew by a massive flood of light.

Pinned in it, she cried, "I can explain everything!"

There was an eruption of laughter, and the light clicked off. When her eyes adjusted, she saw all the Inward Bounders lined up on the porch. Miroku, Shima, Karo, Keiko, Sara and Kojiro, each holding a bottle of Kouro, except Miroku, who was holding an enormous flashlight.

Kuranosuke appeared at her side, took a few more bows, to great applause. "Arigatou. Arigatou gozaimashita!"

Dripping wet, the swimmers took the stairs up to the porch. Sango accepted a beer from Miroku, and Kuranosuke wandered towards Karo and Kojiro to receive high fives and a cigar.

"Are you going to kick me out?" she asked her host.

He grinned. "Nah. I like having you around."

Then she watched as his anti-freeze blue eyes wandered from her face(lingering a little on her chest) down to her ankles. Again, Dr. Pervert was giving her his own, personal check-up(or check-out).

Strangely enough, it did feel nice for her body to be noticed this way by him. And even if Miroku didn't say, she knew that he approved well of her overly-developed calf muscles, when most of her exes barely noticed them, and Kami only knew that she had a built a sense of pride in them, just as Miroku had said. But now wasn't the time for the good doctor to be dirty-minded.

"You called the cops on us?" she asked loud enough for him to desist.

"I was concerned for the safety of my charges." he answered simply.

She pointed at the flashlight. "What is this thing?"

He handed it to her. It was at least five pounds with a bulb the size of a saucer.

"It's a SuperLight. Two million candle power, five-thousand-watt bulb, with a visibility range of one mile. They're great for hiking at night, spotting deer and bears. Everybody's got one. But you've probably gathered that by now."

She quirked a brow. "You called the neighbors too?"

He shook his head. "The bullhorn caught their attention."

Shima approached. "How's that list coming, Sango-chan?"

"List?"

"Of your goals for Week Two. What you want to get out of your interpersonal exercises."

Sango glanced over at Kuranosuke, who was still charged from his turn in the spotlight(s).

"I'm working on it."

Shima gave her a pointed look. "Sometimes it helps to figure out what you don't want first."

"Way ahead of you, Shima-chan."

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

I need a love that could give me
the kind of love that will last always
I need somebody uplifting
to take me away
I want a lover who knows me
who understands how I feel inside
Someone to comfort and hold me
through the long lonely nights
till the dawn
Why you don’t take me away

Dreamlover come rescue me
take me up take me down
take me anywhere you want to baby now
I need you so desperately
Won’t you please come around
‘cause I wanna share forever with you baby

I don’t want another pretender
to disillusion me one more time
whispering words of forever
playing with my mind
I need someone to hold on to
the kind of love that won’t fly away
I just want someone to belong to
everyday
of my life
always
So come and take me away

Dreamlover come rescue me
take me up take me down
take me anywhere you want to baby now
I need you so desperately
Won’t you please come around
‘cause I wanna share forever with you baby

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

Kouro - brand of sake

sake - Japanese rice-fermented drink

Arigatou gozaimashita - Thank you very much

A/N: Guys, give me several ideas on how to make "dear" Kuranosuke's life a living hell at the ending. Any idea that'll torture him.
(:) Come on, I know you want to as much as I do!