InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ This Wasn't In The Job Description ❯ A Revelation ( Chapter 3 )

Chapter 3

 

A Revelation

 

It was lunch time when Kagome left Sango's office. On the way down in the elevator, Kagome checked to see if she had enough money for lunch or if she would have to wait until she got back to InuYasha's house. Her stomach growled and she really hoped she wouldn't have to wait. She counted the money with one hand, the heavy file in a large manila envelope under her other arm. Happily, she saw that if she were frugal she could probably afford a bowl of udon noodles and still have enough money to catch the train back to Jiyugaoka station.

 

Walking out to the street, she headed back for the train station, planning to stop at an udon shop that she could afford along the way.

 

The bulky file weighed down her arms, and she thought, `I must bring my backpack when I am doing errands for InuYasha.'

 

By the time Kagome got back to InuYasha's house, she had eaten and rested on the train, and was feeling a bit less tired and frazzled. She looked for the keypad next to the gate, and when she found it she reached in her purse for the slip of paper with the security codes. After she had punched the security code numbers in, the gate swung open and she went inside. Then she punched in the security code for the front door, and heard a buzz and the movement of the bolts as the door unlocked. Hefting the file, she opened the door and walked in.

 

The house was quiet. It did not look like anyone was home. Kagome wondered what to do. Should she look for InuYasha? Was he still at Miroku's office in Tokyo? She wondered if Kaede was here.

 

“Kaede?” Kagome called, but she got no response.

 

Well, it was a big house. The old housekeeper could be anywhere. Kagome decided she might as well go to her room. As for the file, she was unsure if she should put it in InuYasha's office or not. Was the office off limits when he was not around? No one had told her. She decided to err on the side of caution, and not go in his office. Instead, she lugged the file up to her room, planning to give it to him when he got home.

 

In her room, she found a note from Kaede that had been left on her desk. Putting down the file, she picked it up and read it. It said:

 

Miss Kagome,

 

I have gone shopping for a few things for dinner. Please put the file you got from Sango on InuYasha's desk in his office.

 

InuYasha will not be back until dinner. There are no further tasks for you to do today, so take some time to make yourself at home.

I will see you shortly.

 

Kaede

 

Kagome put the note down and sighed. She wanted to sit down and put her aching feet up, but decided to go deliver the file InuYasha's office first. So she picked it up and headed downstairs.

 

InuYasha's office was in the same state of disarray that it had been when she had come for her interview. Going over to the desk, she wondered where she should put it. The desk was littered with papers, magazines, and empty cups of instant ramen.

 

`Well, maybe he won't mind if I straighten it up a bit,' Kagome thought.

 

She put the file down on the chair, and began making neat piles of papers and magazines. Grabbing the empty ramen cups, she looked for a garbage pail. It was sitting almost unused in a corner by the crowded book shelf. Throwing the ramen cups in, she glanced at the contents of the shelf. It was an eclectic mix of books on music, history of Japan, books on ancient weaponry, and genetic science.

 

One book caught her interest, and biting her lip at her audacity, she gingerly took it out. It was called “Feudal Fairy Tales of Japan.' It contained stories of a time when the demon realm and the human realm were not separated, and demons and humans co-existed together. It had beautiful illustrations, and the so-called demons came in many varieties from the horrifying lower youkai to the unearthly, beautiful taiyoukai, or high demons. Kagome was familiar with this folklore, since she had majored in ancient to Feudal Era Japanese history, but she had never seen a book as beautiful as this one. It was obviously an old and probably rare book. Carefully, she put it back where she found it, and went back to the desk.

 

Kagome put the file on the desk where InuYasha could readily see it, and left the office, wondering about the unusual books in InuYasha's collection. A rock star who had books on genetic science and Feudal fairy tales? He was obviously a more complex person than she expected a rock star to be.

 

Up in her room, Kagome got changed into a comfortable pair of sweats and sat down on her bed. She had set up her portable CD player on a table next to the bed. She slipped in a CD of classical Japanese music. Then she got out a magazine that she found in the night table drawer, and began to read. But she was overcome by drowsiness from all of her traveling that day, and soon drifted off to sleep. In her dreams, she saw the taiyoukai from the book come to life, going about their mysterious business and commingling in the world of humans.

 

Suddenly, she was startled awake at the sound of a knock on her bedroom door.

 

“Ah, come in,” Kagome said, stretching and rubbing her eyes.

 

“Sorry to disturb you, Miss Kagome,” Kaede said. “I was just seeing if you were back.”

 

“That's okay,” Kagome said with a smile. “I must have dozed off.”

 

“Well, I'll be making dinner now,” Kaede said.

 

“Oh, can I help you?” Kagome said.

 

“You don't have to do that,” Kaede said.

 

“It's no problem,” Kagome said, swinging her legs off the bed. “I would like to help you.”

 

“In that case, of course you may,” Kaede said, with an indulgent smile.

 

Kagome got up and followed the housekeeper downstairs to the kitchen.

 

As they prepared dinner together, Kaede said, “I try and make good, healthy meals for InuYasha, but I think that man would live happily on instant ramen.”

 

“Yes, I saw all the empty ramen cups in his office,” Kagome said.

 

Just then, the front door opened. InuYasha came in and stuck his bandana-covered head in the kitchen doorway and sniffed.

 

“I'm starved,” he said. “Will dinner be ready soon?”

 

Then he noticed Kagome was there and flushed. He looked embarrassed as he regarded her silently for a moment.

 

“Yes, it will be done shortly,” Kaede said. “Where would you like to eat? I could set places in the dining room.”

 

“Just bring it to my office, would you?” InuYasha said, and suddenly he was gone.

 

“Kaede, is he angry with me?” Kagome said in alarm. “He didn't say one word to me.”

 

“That's just his way,” Kaede said. “InuYasha does not have much in the way of social graces, and he is not used to having attractive women living in his house.”

 

“Oh,” Kagome said, and blushed a little.

 

“Even his ex-girlfriend Kikyo never stayed here, and he almost married her,” Kaede said.

 

Suddenly, there was a surprised shout from InuYasha.

 

“What the fuck is this?”

 

Then he was back in the kitchen, a perplexed and annoyed look on his face.

 

“Kaede, did you straighten up my office today?” InuYasha said.

 

“Of course not,” Kaede said. “Straightening up your office is a lost cause, because you just mess it up again within an hour.”

 

“I'm sorry, InuYasha,” Kagome said quietly. “I went to put the file of press releases on your desk, and it was in such disarray, I tidied up a bit.”

 

“Well, you didn't have to do that,” InuYasha growled. “It's not part of your duties as my personal assistant.”

 

“Okay,” Kagome said. “Sorry.”

 

InuYasha stood and stared at her with a thoughtful, inscrutable look on his face, his large golden eyes boring into her uncomfortably, and then suddenly he was gone. Kagome let go of the breath she did not know she was holding.

 

`I have to get a grip if I am going to work for this strange guy,' Kagome thought. `I don't know why he is getting to me this way.'

 

Dinner was finished quickly, and Kaede went to take a tray to InuYasha while Kagome sat at the table in the kitchen and ate. Kaede came back and sat down with her own dinner, and the two women chatted amiably while they ate. When they had finished, Kagome helped Kaede clean up.

 

“I'll be leaving now Miss Kagome,” Kaede said. “Do you have any more questions for me?”

 

“No, thank you Kaede,” Kagome said with a smile.

 

“I will wake you up for breakfast then,” Kaede said. “And don't worry about InuYasha. In time, he will get used to you and you to him. I'm sure everything will work out fine.”

 

“I appreciate that,” Kagome said.

 

When Kaede left, Kagome went back up to her room. She took a nice hot bath and then got into her pajamas. She took a book out of her backpack and lay on the bed to read for a while, but her mind kept wandering over the events of the day. She had twinges of worry over the things that had happened. Finally, she gave up reading with a sigh, turned off the light on the night table, and tried to go to sleep. But she tossed and turned, until it seemed she just could not relax and get comfortable.

 

`Maybe Kaede has something like a relaxing tea I can drink to help me sleep,' Kagome thought.

 

Kagome slipped out of bed, and padded downstairs to the kitchen. Rummaging in the cabinets, she found just what she was looking for. She put a kettle of water on to boil, found a mug, and sat down to wait. The water came to a boil and she steeped the tea bag in the mug of hot water. Then she went back upstairs with her mug.

 

As Kagome made her way up the stairs, she thought she heard someone singing accompanied by an acoustic guitar. It was a male voice, and not one she had heard before. When she got to the landing at the top of the stairs, she turned her head towards the sound and realized it was coming from InuYasha's quarters.

 

`He sounds so sad,' Kagome thought in surprise. Unable to help herself, she was drawn down the hallway and stood biting her lip, listening outside the door.

 

Kagome realized it was one of his hit songs, but not sung at all like the record.

 

The haunting words came to her ears, “Mother, oh Mother. Since you died that day, I became a dirty stray. I don't fuckin' like it this way. Not tomorrow, and not today.”

 

Kagome swallowed and bent her head closer to the door, as he continued to sing.

 

“I'm a down, down dog. Mother, I'm going down. I'm a down, down dog, Mother, I'm so down…Mother, oh Mother, your eyes were warm and brown, for you I'd be a clown, but I can't forget the sound, when the grave dirt hit the ground.”

 

Kagome closed her eyes. The words and the pain in his voice were making her heart ache for him.

 

“I'm a down, down dog. Mother, I'm going down. I'm a down, down dog. Mother, I'm so down…Mother, oh Mother, I've been running for my life, known no love only strife, loneliness cuts me like a knife, only pain will be my wife…I'm a down, down dog. Mother, I'm going down. I'm a down, down dog. Mother, I'm so down.”

 

Unbidden, Kagome gasped, and a tear fell from her eye.

 

“Gotta fight, Mother, fight to make it right. Gonna take flight, Mother, gonna do it tonight… 'Cause I'm a down, down dog. Mother, I've been down. I'm a down, down dog. Mother, I'm low down …down, down dog, down, dog dog…I'm so fuckin' down.”

 

So wrapped up was Kagome in the singing, she let her finger stray off the mug handle and gasped loudly in pain as it came in contact with the hot mug.

 

Suddenly, the door was jerked open, and Kagome jumped in fright. InuYasha stuck his head out the door and looked at her, startled and annoyed.

 

“What the fuck you doing out here?” he growled. “I thought you went to bed. Don't you fuckin' sleep, or what?”

 

Kagome's eyes went wide as she looked at him. InuYasha wasn't wearing his bandana, and the white, triangular dog ears on his head had moved, swiveling forward when he came to the door. Unable to help herself, she stared at them in shock, raising her hand to her mouth.

 

“Oh, fuck…” InuYasha said, his ears flattening against his head as he realized what she was looking at. “So now you know. You're working for a real life hanyou. You going to quit or what?”

 

Kagome was speechless.