A.N. Woot! I’m so glad to get this chapter out! I started it this morning at like nine o’clock and finished at 1:30 today (12.24.07). Lol this was one of the few stories where I actually had to go back and read the last two chapters and yet still could say, “Where in the fuck was I taking this plot again?” So I was up last night for an hour or so just writing some stuff down, and trying to remember what I was thinking about when I was writing the last few chapters because they did not coincide at ALL with my outline for this fic lmao. That’s reason number one why I should not disappear from my fics for more than a few weeks at a time.

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha...

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Underneath the Brown Wrapping

(Tsuki)

Chapter Seven

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(Tsuki)

“I’ve never eaten so much food in my life…” Their table was covered in a dozen plates all varying in size, but all sharing the fact that there was nothing on them.

Mirouku leaned back in his seat and rubbed his stomach ruefully.

Inuyasha grinned and leaned towards him, “But…?”

Mirouku shared his grin, “But, it was the best damn meal I’ve ever had.”

“Damn straight.”

Mirouku laughed. “I still think I should have had the coffee though.” He let out a yawn, “I’m beat.”

Inuyasha snorted, “As if the coffee would have helped.”

His comment was instantly retorted, “Yeah, I completely forgot. Caffeine puts people to sleep.”

A waiter crept up to their table cautiously, “Are you two finished?” He stared at the empty plates in shock.

Inuyasha nodded, “Yep! Can we get the bill?”

The waiter shakily handed him the bill and Inuyasha glanced at it and pulled out a credit card. He slipped it in the folded booklet. “Here you go.”

Mirouku furrowed his brows, “Hey! I’m treating, remember!”

Inuyasha scoffed, “There is no way you’d want to foot that bill…”

Mirouku looked at the plates that were now being cleared. “…True…”

“So what else is there to do around here? It’s still pretty early. It’s a little past two…”

The raven haired male gave Inuyasha a coy look, “Do you bowl?”

Inuyasha’s amber eyes gleamed behind his sunglasses, “I might be a little rusty, but I’m sure I could still kick your ass…”

Mirouku snorted, “Oh we’re so on.”

As soon as Inuyasha’s credit card was returned, both sprinted from the table and left the restaurant and headed for Mirouku’s car. Tires squealed as Mirouku raced them to the nearest bowling alley.

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(Tsuki)

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Kikyou looked at her watch. She had been waiting in the hotel lobby for a while. It was past three and still no Kagome.

She had gone to see her doctor to pass time and had ended up spending a few hours there, since it had been busy.

She sighed a bit, “I hope she didn’t forget about me.” She moved to the front desk. “I’ll have her paged.”

On the way, she ran into Sango. The brunette looked completely overwhelmed.

Kikyou looked concerned, “Are you alright?”

Sango rubbed her temples, “Kagome’s mother was in an accident. Kagome hasn’t called me since she told me that. And Mirouku disappeared. I don’t think that all that constitutes being alright,” she laughed a bit wryly.

Kikyou hooked an arm around Sango’s waist, “Come on… Let me give you a hand.”

Sango shook her head, “I shouldn’t be pushing my problems on you. I got it, don’t worry. I can handle this!”

A frantic women suddenly approached Sango, “Miss, my ten year old completely trashed our room while we were gone, the beds are a mess…there’s food all over the floors, my make up is decorating the mirrors and the walls—could you please spare a few minutes?”

Sango smiled, “Sure…”

As soon as the woman was gone, she, still with her a smile, drawled, “And now I can’t.”

Kikyou smiled, “Well, we can. I’ve been removing make up for years, so I’ll get that, while you get the floors, and we’ll both do the beds, okay?”

Sango nodded her head and laughed, “Thanks!”

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(Tsuki)

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Mirouku cracked his knuckles and picked up a twelve pound ball. He stuck his fingers into the holes and tested the weight before moving over to the alleyway and letting it loose. It raced down the lane and struck the pins directly in the center.

The nineteen year old grinned, “Strike number three, Inuyasha. That makes me fifty pins ahead. What happened to kicking my ass?”

Inuyasha scowled, “I said I was rusty! Shut up!”

He picked up a ten pound ball and moved towards the lane. His arm rose out in front of him so he could get used to the weight, then, he took another step forward and bent to let the ball fly.

The marbled pink bowling ball traveled steadily down the center of the lane and Inuyasha cheered.

That is…. Until it hit the pins.

All of the pins fell down.

All except the one behind the foremost pin.

Mirouku laughed loudly. “You showed me!”

Inuyasha cursed, “Son of a bitch! This game cheats!”

At the end of the game…which they decided to end earlier before the manager had to be called a second time, both of them ordered a plate of fries. Strangely enough both were still hungry even after their lunch.

Suddenly Mirouku sighed, “You know… I completely know how you feel, Inuyasha. There’s this girl I’m head over heels for. But it wouldn’t work out now. I completely blew my chances with her before.”

Across from him, Inuyasha stuck a fry in his mouth and propped his head on his elbow which was leaned on the table.

“Before?”

“We dated when we were younger. It was about four years ago or so. I was in high school and she would graduate that spring with my cousin.”

He shrugged, “I took her to a party one of my friends was throwing and I left her with a group of girls that wanted to meet her, while I hung out with the guys.” His brow furrowed, “Apparently, I was hot shit back then and none of the girls had wanted to ‘give me up to a pompous little fourteen year old.’ So they spiked her drink and nearly convinced her to strip dance on one of the tables, but I had shown up then.”

A scowl marred his normally jovial face, “I had never been so angry in my life. So I called her parents and said we would be at my cousin’s for the night. I broke up with her the next day.”

Inuyasha looked at him, “Why?”

Mirouku picked up a fry, “I didn’t want anything like that to happen agai—”

“Bullshit. Why did you really break up with her?”

The raven haired young man sighed, “She genuinely loved me then, Inuyasha. Stuff almost happened that neither of us was ready for and I was scared, I guess. She told me a lot of things that night that I wish she hadn’t. I liked her, but that was about it. I didn’t feel it was fair for her to be with me when I didn’t love her when she felt that way about me. Ironically I’m pretty sure the positions have switched.”

Inuyasha laughed a bit, “That sucks. So she hates you now?”

“I wouldn’t say that…But we’ve never really talked about it. Kagome—my cousin—won’t tell even me how she took the break up. She seemed fine with it for all these years. So I’m hoping if at the least we can just stay friends. I don’t want to lose that.”

There was a pregnant silence as they both finished the fries. As they stood to leave, Inuyasha finally commented.

“Yeah.” He agreed to Mirouku’s last statement. “But you’re lucky that you still see her and you can talk to her like nothing happened. Kikyou hasn’t really spoken to me and I haven’t seen her since she quit. I mean… I’ve never messed up something so badly in my life.”

They slipped into Mirouku’s car, a much more somber mood to them. Mirouku started the car and they left the bowling alley.

Abruptly Inuyasha asked, “So… you know any places a guy could get piss drunk this early?”

Mirouku snorted, “Where do you think I’m going now?”

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(Tsuki)

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Before he could let out a scalding comment, an old man walked through the front door with a familiar raven haired man in tow.

“Mr. Higurashi! Nice to see you again. Where’s your sister?”

A finely sculpted brow suddenly began to twitch.

The elderly man looked Sesshoumaru over, “Souta!” he murmured, shocked, “When did that happen? You’re all grown up!” He shook his head and sighed, “Grandchildren….They sprout like plants.”

Souta poked his head out of the kitchen, “Jii-chan?” When he saw Bankotsu his head disappeared only to return seconds later with another head above his.

Kagome sputtered, “What?!” She clamped a hand over her mouth when she remembered the sleeping children on the couch.

She held up a finger in a gesture to be quiet as she moved over to Rin. She picked her up, still wrapped her blanket. She then looked at Sesshoumaru wearily, “Would you mind getting Shippou? I don’t want these guys woken up.”

Sesshoumaru picked up Shippou, a slight frown marring his features as he took in the below average weight.

Kagome deposited Rin in her room and Shippou went into Souta’s bedroom.

When Kagome and Sesshoumaru returned downstairs, Bankotsu grinned, “I hope you don’t find my visit too sudden!”

“Oh no, of course not!” She laughed and responded through clenched teeth, “It’s not like we just saw you a few hours ago, other anything like that.”

Bankotsu smiled, ignoring her tart reply, “Wonderful, then! Is this your younger brother?”

Souta rubbed the back of his head as he walked into the living room, confused, “Uh, yeah. I am. But who are you?”

Bankotsu gave him a card, “My name is Bankotsu Korishu. I am the social worker who was assigned to work on Shippou and Rin.”

Sesshoumaru walked past him towards the door. “I was just taking my leave. So if you’ll excuse me.”

Jii-chan rubbed his chin, “If Souta’s over here…then you must be—”

Sesshoumaru looked at Kagome as he replied with a drawl, “Your beloved grandson, Sesshoumaru.”

Kagome’s hand instinctively covered Souta’s mouth as he began to utter a confused remark. She let out a nervous giggle, thankful that the action did not go noticed by Bankotsu.

Kagome’s grandfather suddenly blinked, “Of course!”

Bankotsu raised a brow, “So you are technically a resident of this household?”

Sesshoumaru answered without skipping a beat, “I moved out after graduation. I found it easier for my job.”

Jii-chan whispered up to Bankotsu, “It was a beautiful ceremony. Kagome was all tears.”

Kagome gave her grandfather a look. Souta moved out of his sister’s constraints and inched over to Sesshoumaru. He whispered something to the older man who nodded. Jii-chan moves over to the group and suddenly embraced Sesshoumaru.

The silver haired man stared down at elderly man as frowned. “I really must be leaving…”

“Oh, but you never visit me!”

Kagome rubbed her brow. He was the most compulsive liar she had ever met! Really… she was going to have to get him help for that.

She distinctly remembered one year when she was fifteen, how he kept telling all her friends that she had mostly terminal diseases. It had been the most embarrassing segment of high school life…

Kagome suddenly rubbed her head, feeling dizzy from the day’s events and the fact that she had barely eaten all day, “Mr. Korishu, I don’t mean to be rude, but could we cut this visit short? So much went on today and this really isn’t the best time for this.”

Bankotus nodded solicitously, and understanding said, “I was just really here to do a surface check to make sure this was a good location and these kids wouldn’t be moving from one bad home to another.”

Kagome sighed, “I’m sorry to have snapped at you, but it’s just been a long day.”

Bankotsu nodded and produced another card from his pocket. He writes down his cell phone number. “Here’s my cell number. If you have any questions or anything, call this.”

He winked, “Well I’ll see you guys later.” With that he left.

Sesshoumaru detangled himself from Jii-chan and followed suit.

Kagome’s stomach growled loudly and she looked at her brother and grandfather, “Alright. I haven’t eaten all day, so both of you are going to help me make something to eat or I just might have to eat Buyo.”

A chubby cat peeked out into the living room and gave a loud meow, before waddling out of the room.

Souta walked back into the kitchen with a laugh, “Buyo wouldn’t even notice.”

Jii-chan looked as if he wanted to protest to having to cook but with a sigh he resigned himself to the kitchen, “I’m old, Kagome-chan. I should be sitting down and resting. Not participating in such back breaking labors!”

Kagome rolled her eyes fondly, “Cutting onions is not considered to be backbreaking, jii-chan, Now come on. I have to get back to work.”

She suddenly winced, thinking about all the things she would have to d

Abruptly, Kagome remembered a certain promise she had made.

She groaned…

“I’ll worry about all that later.”

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(Tsuki)

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After she situated Rin and Shippou as much as she could and had eaten, she left to return back to the hotel.

She was, in possible, even more sick of that uniform of hers.

“I’m burning this thing the first chance I get.” Kagome growled as she reached the hotel. She quickly ran into the lobby and went to page Sango.

Sango came down to the front desk looking haggard, but better than Kagome had expected. Then again, she also expected Sango to be mad at her.

However, her friend immediately hugged Kagome. “I’m glad you’re alright! I’ve been so worried!”

Kikyou approached the two then and Kagome hastily explained why she never kept their shopping date before Kikyou could even get a word in. “I promise we’ll go shopping tomorrow!”

Sango covered Kagome’s mouth to end the barrage of apologies, with a wink to Kikyou, “If she ever gets like that….Viola!”

Kikyou laughed and then said, “I completely understand, Kagome-chan. I heard from Sango about what happened, and I’m sorry about your mother. Is she okay?”

Sango released her friend, “Yeah, what happened? How is she?”

“Mom looked terrible when I saw her,” she admitted with tear glazed eyes, but she smiled, “But she will recover.” She went on to relate what she knew about Shippou and Rin’s situation.

Abruptly she asked, “I hope you too haven’t been doing a lot of work to cover for me.”

Sango shook her head, “We didn’t do anything too strenuous. We only had one difficult room,” she scrunched her nose in remembrance, “though that wasn’t even your shift. But other than that, we’ve mostly been vacuuming and making beds and using soap and water when the occasion arose since Kikyou shouldn’t be around too many chemicals.”

Kagome looked relieved, “I’m glad, then.” She then asked what work she still had left to do.

“It’s only the room Mirouku specially assigned you to do and then your schedule is cleared. We finished everything else.”

The raven haired girl hid a wince. There was only one room that she had been specially assigned to and that was Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha’s.

“Do you know if it’s empty?”

Sango nodded. “I’m pretty sure it is. I didn’t hear any thing coming from their room. I knocked to and there was no answer.”

Kagome thanked both again and engulfed each in a hug. “I really appreciate this, guys. When I’m done with their room, I’ll join you as quickly as possible!”

Sango looked around, “You haven’t seen Mirouku anywhere, have you? He disappeared earlier and I can’t find him!”

“No I haven’t… I just got in.”

The trio separated then. Kagome went in the direction of the elevator, while Sango and Kikyou went into the direction of Mirouku’s office. Kagome assumed that they were going to look for him.

After Kagome got a hand basket full of cleaning supplies, fresh towels, and other necessities, she went to the floor the Taishos were located on.

Kagome trotted down the hallway, with hopes of finishing the room quickly so she could help Sango finish up her allotted rooms.

She quickly knocked on the door before hand. “Hello? This is Kagome… Is anyone in here?”

She got no response.

With a relieved smile she pulled her universal key from her basket and unlocked the door.

She found the room pitch black, “Ugh… now where is that light.”

The dim light from the hall barely helped her out.

Her hand felt around the wall for the switch as she muttered various curses, frustrated when she couldn’t find it.

Suddenly a hand snaked around her mouth and the door was slammed shut.

Kagome let out a muffled shriek as she was picked up as another door was opened.

She was thrown gently within the room and the door was shut. She pounded on the door and tried to open it, but someone was leaned against it.

She pitifully sank to the cool floor of what could only be the bathroom and rubbed her temples, “What the hell is going on?”

(Tsuki)

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(Tsuki)

A.N.

I loved Mirouku and Inuyasha hanging out. Couldn’t you just see Inuyasha bowling? I hope you guys have a great Holiday season and enjoy the rest of your Christmas Eve!

And if you’re doing some last minute shopping like I am… lol, good luck! I really shouldn’t procrastinate this much with it, but that’s like asking Scrubs not be hilarious.

Merry Christmas!