Wooing a Woman by Himura Asami

Chapter 1

Enjoy!

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Disclaimer: I don’t own anything.

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            Kagome rolled her eyes and crossed her arms as she looked at her adoptive brother. He had his signature stupid, adorably charming, lazy grin on his face, and his deep, peridot eyes were sparkling. He ran a hand through his flaming orange hair and winked at the girl next to him. She nearly melted into goo.

            Kagome couldn’t help giggling at the sight he made, surrounded by a bunch of giggling females. He loved every minute of it, and it showed. He was in his element.

            She pursed her lips as she walked over to him. She didn’t want to ruin his fun, but it was dinnertime, and while she acknowledged the fact that he was a powerful, 17 year-old kitsune –a full year older than she was and a youkai to boot– there was no way that she was going to stop babying him. That meant that she would track him down everyday if she had to, and drag him back home so that he received proper nourishment. If she didn’t, he’d be malnourished! Or at the very least, anorexic.

            “Shippo,” she called out.

            He turned to her with wide eyes, before he smiled the smile that he saved just for her.

            Tactfully, he disentangled himself from the gaggle of girls and literally skipped over to her. On any other guy, it wouldn’t have worked, but he made skipping cool.

            He wrapped his arms around her and lifted her up in a hug. Kagome squealed. She would have been embarrassed, but seeing as all the other girls were squealing and staring with either dreamy or jealous eyes –the latter of which really made her head spin– she couldn’t find it in herself to blush.

            “Hey, sis,” Shippo said, putting her down. “Time for dinner?”

            She nodded firmly.

            Turning around, Shippo gave a bow with a flourish that had his fangirls swooning. “Excuse me, ladies. We’ll have to continue this later.”

            When Kagome saw how all of them were either blushing a color that resembled a deep burgundy or clutching their hearts, she rolled her eyes.

            Grabbing her brother by the ear, she pulled him along.

            “Ow! Kagome, let go!”

            She didn’t listen to him, and instead dragged him all the way back home, up the shrine steps, and into the house, not bothering to pay attention to the stares.

            When they were inside, she put her hands on her hips and tapped her foot.

            “You just had to wink, didn’t you? We can’t pay for all those lawsuits if the girls decide to sue. You’d be the cause of a mass epidemic of heart attacks.”

            Shippo cocked an eyebrow as he pitifully rubbed at his sore, pointed ear. “Is epidemic the right word?”

            Kagome scoffed and walked into the kitchen. She grabbed her apron and tied it around her waist, before she washed her hands.

            Shippo walked into the kitchen and leaned against the wall, looking at his sister. His eyes softened as she bit her lip contemplatively and opened the refrigerator.

            “Where’s Mom?” he asked softly, even though he didn’t really care.

It wasn’t as if he wasn’t grateful for all the woman had done for him. He was, but Kagome was the only person he cared about. After all, she was the one who had, at the tender age of 7, looked up facts on kitsune life-style. He remembered back when they were younger and he used to watch her search through books and on the Internet about everything kitsune. She would institute what she had learned into daily life, and he remembered being astonished that anyone could care that much for someone who wasn’t blood. That anyone would do that much.

She was still like that, and, sometimes, he was still astonished.

            Kagome hummed lightly, pulling Shippo out of his thoughts. “She’s out at work. Apparently there’s this new family moving in a few houses down. They’re big time rich and big time powerful, so she’s fawning over them. What’s the name? Tanto? No. Toshi? That’s not it. T-“

            “Taisho?” Shippo suggested.

            Kagome whirled around. “That’s it. How’d you know?”

            “The girls were talking about it. Apparently, I’m going to have some competition. There are two sons and, supposedly, one of them is drop-dead gorgeous and the other is hotter than the sun.”

            Shippo chuckled as his sister’s eye twitched. She could never bring herself to care as much about looks as other girls did. Unless those looks involved ears and/or tails, of course. Then she was more obsessive than his stalkers. Shippo’s tail swished at the thought.

            Then, all of a sudden, he pouted. “This is terrible.”

            “What is?” Kagome asked absent-mindedly.

            “That those guys are coming. The girls will be divided, or they might just leave me all together! What am I going to do?”

            Kagome turned from the stove where she was preparing their meal. “If they leave you, then I’ll blackmail them into coming back. I know a few things about Souten that would blow your mind.”

            Shippo’s eyes sharpened. “Like what?”

            Kagome turned around and went back to cooking. “Wash up and set the table. Dinner will be done in an hour.”

            “Then why do I have to wash up and set the table now?”

            Kagome turned to him with her head cocked and brow furrowed.

            “Because I… said so?”

            She shrugged and Shippo shrugged with her.

“Good enough,” he said, before walking out of the kitchen.

…

            A few hours later, long after dinner, Kagome and Shippo were sitting on the couch. They were watching a soap opera. Kagome was crying into Shippo’s shoulder and Shippo’s eyes were suspiciously red.

            “That was so sad,” Kagome cried.

            Shippo cleared his throat. “It wasn’t sad,” he said, but it was clear he was lying.

Kagome sniffed, and the pair lapsed into silence as they watched the credits.

The peaceful quiet was broken when the phone gave a shrill ring.

            Kagome turned around and reached for the end table. She grabbed the phone and answered it.

            “Hello?” she asked in a watery voice.

            “Kagome,” her mother’s voice sounded. “Are you okay? Have you been crying, dear?”

            “I’m fine, Mom. How was the meeting? Did you get them to sign the contract?”

            “I did. The Taisho’s are officially our new neighbors. But that isn’t why I was calling. My sister called me and said that she wants Kikyo to come and visit. Your cousin will be arriving tomorrow. Will you set up a futon in your room?”

            Kagome waved her hand dismissively. “No need. Kikyo can have my room. I’ll sleep in Shippo’s.”

            “Oh,” the frown in Ms. Higurashi’s voice could be clearly heard. “Are you sure?”

            Shippo leaned over and pulled the phone from Kagome. “I’m fine with it,” he said, before giving the phone back to his sister. He settled himself comfortably on her back and closed his eyes.

            Kagome sighed, but didn’t push him away. “You heard him, Mom.”

            “That’s not what I meant,” her mother said dryly.

            Kagome was completely in the dark, but Shippo snorted behind her, utterly repulsed at the unsaid worry in his adopted mother’s voice.

            “Anyway, Mom,” Kagome said, ready to turn back to the TV, “it’s fine. Are you coming home now?”

            “Yes, dear.”

            “Okay. See you then.”

            Kagome hung up and placed the phone on the hook.

            “Shippo, get off.”

            “Why?” he mumbled into her back.

            “I have to go clean up my room.”

            “It can wait. I don’t feel like moving.”

            Kagome shifted and slid from under her brother, letting him fall face first onto the couch. She stifled her giggles as he groaned.

            “You’re so mean, Kagome.”

            “I am not.”

            Shippo shot up suddenly. “I’ve changed my mind!”

            “About what?” Kagome asked, unperturbed at the sudden change. It’s the sort of thing you get used to over the course of 9 years. Not to mention she did it too.

            “About letting you sleep in my room.”

            “Why?”

            “Your powers go crazy in your sleep sometimes.”

            Kagome rolled her eyes. “I’d never hurt you.”

            Shippo looked at her suspiciously. “Okay. But you still kick hard.”

            Kagome scoffed. “What sort of youkai are you?”

            “The tender-skinned sort!”

            Kagome’s eyes lit up in amusement. “Seriously? Okay, I’ll remember that.”

            So saying, Kagome walked out of the room and headed upstairs, leaving Shippo to wonder if maybe he shouldn’t have answered the way he did.

…

            The next day saw the whole Higurashi family up early on Sunday.

            Kagome and Shippo sat at the table eating a meal that Kagome had prepared, while Ms. Higurashi was running around the house cleaning up.

            “Mom, what’s the big deal? Kikyo won’t mind if the floors aren’t sparkling,” Kagome said to her frantic mother.

            Shippo leaned over to whisper in her ear. “She actually might.”

            Kagome turned to Shippo with a frown. He merely shrugged and went back to eating breakfast. Kagome huffed. They always had a small disagreement over Kikyo. Kagome loved Kikyo, Shippo didn’t, and he didn’t want to. Kagome pouted as her brother avoided her gaze.

            The doorbell rang, and Ms. Higurashi went into overdrive.

            “I’ll get it,” Kagome said, standing up.

            Before she left the room, she ruffled Shippo’s hair. “Keep the pranks directed at Kikyo to a 3 per day maximum.”

            Shippo’s mouth dropped open. “Only 3 per day? That’s tight.”

            Kagome rolled her eyes, not at all believing that it was as tight as he thought and went to get the door. She frowned however, as she reached it. She could distinctly feel the presence of youki on the other side of the door, and not a single ounce of the holy power that she knew her cousin emanated.

            Kagome frowned. She didn’t recognize the auras, but she was sure that they were bad people. And if they weren’t, they probably wanted to punish her brother for flirting with one of their female family members.

Making a decision, Kagome hissed under her breath, knowing her brother would hear her. “Shippo, it’s a code 13!”

            He was by her side in an instant. He pulled a leaf out of his pocket and transformed.

            He was shorter, black-haired, brown-eyed, and human.

            “Shall we, my dear?” he said in a voice that was a smidge deeper than his own.

            She took his arm. “Of course, darling.”

            Shippo opened the door and cocked his head at the sight in front of him.

            There were two full-fledged inu-daiyoukai, one inu-hanyou, and two humans. It was the second human that had him doing a double take.

            She was tiny, as small as his sister, with big brown eyes and black hair. She was gorgeous in a cute way, not to mention she smelled nice, and in that moment, Shippo knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. Most people would consider it stupid, and probably shallow, that he wanted to marry a girl who he had only just met, especially when he hadn’t even met her, but spending time around his sister had taught him how to judge people with a look –it was a necessary skill when people kidnapped you because you were a trouble magnet– and he could tell that she was the sort of girl who could make him happy, and the sort of girl he could make happy. She reminded him of his sister, so he knew that she was perfect, or quite near it, since the only person he knew that was perfect was Kagome, and he knew that no one could ever compare to her.

            Suddenly, he was jolted out of his thoughts when he felt a nudge in his side. He jumped back into character, trying to ignore the girl who had caught his attention.

            “What can I do for you?” he asked, cocking an eyebrow and looking at the elder of the two inu-daiyoukai.

            “We were informed that this was the house of our realtor, Ms. Higurashi.”

            Blinking, Shippo looked down at his sister, who grinned up at him sheepishly. “False alarm,” she said with a shrug.

            With a puff of smoke, Shippo turned back into is original form.

            Looking at the guests who were still outside, he smirked. They looked more than a little confused.

            Sharing a look, Kagome and Shippo decided not to tell them what had just happened.

            Instead, Kagome acted the part of the perfect hostess, which she was, and gave a gracious smile, pretending that what had happened, hadn’t just happened.

            “Why don’t you come in? My mother is in the living room cleaning up a bit.”

            She gave Shippo a wink, and he nodded, going ahead, but not before casting a longing look at the human girl who had caught his eye.

            Kagome noticed, and blinked, before a sly smirk wormed its way onto her face. She looked at the girl and instantly decided that she wasn’t good enough for her brother, but since no one was good enough for him, that she would do just fine.

            Kagome ushered in the guests and led them to the living room. They sat down and Kagome looked at Shippo. He was sneaking not very discreet looks at the girl.

            Hiding a smirk, Kagome cleared her throat. “Did you tell Mom?”

            “Yeah,” he said distractedly. “She said she’d come down in a minute.”

            He trailed off into silence and began to stare openly at the girl.

            Kagome began to giggle, and then she began to chuckle, and then she laughed, and then she cackled.

            By the time she had started cackling, everyone was staring at her, and Shippo was nearly cowering in his seat, his tail swishing violently.

            Then Ms. Higurashi came in.

            “Oh! Mr. Taisho! Mrs. Taisho! It’s a pleasure. What have you- Kagome, what are you doing?”

            Kagome’s cackling stopped abruptly. “I guess I’ll leave it alone for now.”

            She covered the lower half of her face with her arm, trying and failing to smother her giggles, and rushed up the stairs, leaving a very confused group behind her.

            “Umm…” was how Mr. Taisho started.

            “Don’t,” Shippo said, cutting him off. “Just… just don’t. It’s best not to question her.”

            Before another word could be said, the doorbell rang.

            “Oh!” Ms. Higurashi said. “That’ll be Kikyo.”

            Shippo stood, an impish grin in place. “I’ll get it.”

            He was about to do just that, when Kagome rushed into the room and tackled him to the ground.

            “Absolutely not! I will get the door,” she said from her place on top of her brother’s back. She scrambled to her feet and left the room to get the door.

            Shippo groaned without getting up.

            Mr. Taisho chuckled. “Quite the kids you have here, Ms. Higurashi.”

            “Thank you,” she said in a voice that was slightly disbelieving.

            “I agree,” Mrs. Taisho said. “They’re much more entertaining than our children.”

            Shippo got up, setting his weight on his elbows. “We try.”

            The woman’s lips twitched.

            Before another word could be said, however, into the room rushed Kagome. She stepped on Shippo, before straddling his back.

            “Code 4!”

            “Seriously? She’s a code 4?” Shippo asked incredulously.

            “Don’t seriously me! Hurry up! We have to-“

            She cut herself off. Into the room walked an elegant girl who looked only a year or two older than Kagome. Besides the obvious age difference, they could have been twins.

            Kagome sharply dropped her head onto Shippo’s.

            “Ow!” they both said simultaneously.

            Kagome’s look-a-like sighed. “Your both making a scene, and Auntie has guests. Control yourselves.”

            “Bleh, blah, blah! ‘Control yourselves!’” Shippo whispered under his breath in a poor imitation of Kikyo.

            Kagome slapped his head. “What part of code 4 don’t you understand?”

            “The 4 part. I mean, I could understand if she was a 6 or even a 12, but a 4? Come on.”

            Kagome sighed.  “Look at her.”

            Shippo lifted his head up.

Kikyo was extremely pale and quite thing. She held herself in an odd way and there was a look in her eye that sent chills down both Kagome and Shippo’s spines.

Shippo clanched before blanching. “Woah. She’s definitely a code 4.”

            “Exactly! Why don’t you listen to me?”

            “I don’t know! I’ll never not listen to you again, I swear sis!”

            That being said, he got up swiftly, with Kagome still on his back, and disappeared out of the room.

            He jumped up the stairs and ran to his room, slamming and locking the door. He set Kagome onto his bed, before turning to her.

            “She is most definitely being inhabited by the spirit of a dead woman seeking to take vengeance on me for hurting her daughter. This has only ever happened twice, and I never thought that one of the spirits would try to inhabit the body of a miko! What are we going to do, Kagome?”

            Kagome frowned. “We’ll have to exorcise her. I have some sutras that I got from Miroku. Uh… I put them under your pillow.”

            Kagome turned and rummaged under Shippo’s pillow. She pulled out a few slips of paper and nodded.

            “You distract them, I’ll attack when nobody is paying attention.”

            Shippo nodded.

            “Kagome! Shippo!” a voice sounded suddenly from downstairs. “Come down and say hello to the new neighbors and help bring Kikyo’s bag upstairs.”

            Shippo smirked. “Let’s do this, partner.”

            Shippo and Kagome walked down stairs and Kagome waited outside of the door as Shippo walked in.

            “Mom?” he asked casually.

            “Where’s Kagome?”

            “She’ll be in soon.”

            Ms. Higurashi nodded. “Shippo, this is Mr. Toga Taisho, and his wife Izayoi Taisho. That is Mr. Taisho’s first son, Sesshomaru. That is Mr. Taisho and Mrs. Taisho’s son, Inuyasha. And that, is their adopted daughter, Rin.”

            Shippo’s mind went blank when he looked at Rin. Luckily, before he could make a fool of himself, Kagome jumped into the room and flung a miko power-charged sutra at Kikyo.

            “Begone evil spirit!”

            The sutra stuck to Kikyo’s forehead, and everybody stared.

            “Good job, Kagome,” Shippo said approvingly, tearing his gaze from his future wife.

            Kagome smiled. “Thanks. It wasn’t actually that hard. I mean-“

            “What is the meaning of this?” Kikyo asked calmly, pulling the sutra off of her forehead.

            “You were possessed by an evil spirit.  Don’t worry, I took care of it,” Kagome said soothingly, not noticing that Kikyo was completely unchanged.

            “I was not possessed.”

            “Uh, yeah, you were.”

            “I think I would know if I was possessed.”

            Shippo walked over to Kagome. “I doubt it,” he whispered.

            Kagome rolled her eyes, but shrugged in response.

            “It doesn’t really matter. What matters is that both of you are safe from the spirit. And even if you weren’t possessed,” Kagome said in a tone that showed she was only placating her cousin, “it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

            A tense silence descended upon everyone in the room, aside from Kagome and Shippo. They were wrapped in a perfect little bubble of comfortable silence, and couldn’t bother to lower themselves to the realm of regular bubble tense silence that other people lived in.

            Ms. Higurashi cleared her throat.

            “Well, umm, Kagome, this is Mr. Taisho. That’s his wife, Mrs. Taisho, and their son, Inuyasha. That’s Mr. Taisho’s son Sesshomaru, and that’s Rin, she was adopted.”

            Kagome nodded through each introduction, until her mother got to Rin. She grinned, coming up with an idea that she deemed absolutely perfect.

            “Rin!” she rushed over to her and grabbed her hand. “You look nice. I want to get to know you. We can go upstairs and talk. Kikyo’s staying in my room, but we can go up in Shippo’s room. There’s nothing to worry about, of course. He’s the only boy I know that doesn’t read girlie magazines.”

            Shippo was blushing hugely by the end of her statement. Ms. Higurashi and Kikyo both looked disappointed in Kagome, and slightly flustered.

            Before the stunned Taisho’s could process what Kagome had said, however, Kagome pulled Rin off the couch and ran with her out of the room.

            Shippo’s eyes widened and he suddenly ran after them.

            He leaped up the stairs and saw only Kagome at his door.

            “Where is she?” he hissed, still blushing.

            “In there.”

            “You pushed her in my room? She’s in there alone?”

            “Yeah. Does it matter? You don’t have any of the magazines, after all. Right?”

            Shippo gulped before shaking his head. “I don’t,” he said truthfully, “but she’s in my room!”

            “Exactly! This is how I planned it. I knew you would follow me, so go talk to her. Don’t put my hard work to waste!”

            Shippo blinked, blushing even harder. “What- what do you mean?“

            At Kagome’s cocked eyebrow, Shippo flushed further. “Don’t play dumb, Shippo! I know you like her. I can tell. She’s cute, and she seems like a good choice.”

            Shippo nodded. “Right. So I should talk to her. That’s cool.”

            Shippo gulped and his shoulders dropped. Kagome ran to her brother and placed her hands on his shoulders. “I believe in you! Go for it!”

            She pushed him slightly and Shippo stumbled. “All right,” he said nervously. “Stand back, I have no idea what I’m doing.”

            Kagome rolled her eyes, but took a few steps away from both the door and her brother. “Of that, I am aware. You’ve never been seriously attracted to a girl. This’ll be a big first step for you. I’ll wait here in the hallway. Code 5 me if something goes wrong.”

            Shippo nodded. “Right.”

            Gulping nervously, Shippo took a deep inhale, taking in his sister’s scent to give him strength. Nodding with renewed vigor, Shippo opened the door to his room and shut it behind him.

            Kagome looked at the door and placed a hand on her chin. She cocked her head and furrowed her brow.

            “I wonder if that was weird of me to do. I mean, poor Rin, she must be confused. I just pushed her in there and sent in Shippo. I wonder if maybe I’m moving to fast.”

            “You are speaking to yourself.”

            Kagome jumped lightly and squeaked. She placed a hand over her heart and turned around.

            Standing behind her was Sesshomaru. His eyebrow was raised and she glowered.

            “You shouldn’t scare people like that.”

            His eyebrow was still raised.

            “Is it a crime to talk to yourself?”

             He ignored her and changed the subject abruptly. “My sister is in there. As is your kitsune. If he should try anything, I will kill him.”

            Kagome rolled her eyes and waved the threat away, not worried in the least. She knew her brother wouldn’t try anything. He hadn’t even had his first kiss yet. There was nothing he could try that wouldn’t bring out the coward in him.

            “Whatever. You don’t have to worry about him trying anything, at least, not until they’re married at any rate.”

            “What?” Sesshomaru said sharply.

            Kagome looked up at him. “Yeah, they’re going to get married. Didn’t you know?”

            Sesshomaru glared at her. “My sister will not marry your… brother.”

            Kagome scowled at his condescending sneer. “They will get married, just you wait.”

            Sesshomaru snarled at her. “I would never allow my sister to marry him.”

            “It’s not really your decision, is it? I mean, you aren’t alpha. Not yet.”

            Sesshomaru growled, and the two of them were face to face, their noses nearly touching, not that either of them noticed or cared.

            Suddenly, they heard a shriek and the distinct sound of flesh against flesh.

            The door opened suddenly, and a very red Rin walked out of the room. She stomped between Kagome and Sesshomaru, causing both of them to pull apart and blink in confusion.

            Shippo walked into the hallway, a red handprint on his cheek.

            “Code 5,” he said weakly. “That didn’t turn out as well as I thought it would.”

            A small smirk appeared on Sesshomaru’s face.

            “It appears that they will not be getting married after all.”

            “They will!” Kagome yelled. “Just you wait.”

            Sesshomaru huffed and turned on his heel to walk down the stairs.

            Kagome glared at him until he was out of sight, before looking at her brother. “What happened?”

            “I was following Miroku’s advice on how to get a woman to fall in love with you. It worked for him and Sango, and I remember him saying something about it one time.”

            Kagome stared at him before sighing. “Why would you follow his advice, Shippo?”

            “It’s not my fault! I told you I didn’t know what I was doing.”

            Kagome nodded and opened up her arms. Shippo walked over and buried his face in her neck.

            “Oh, Shippo. It’ll be all right. I’ll help you out. When was the last time I let you down? Just listen to my advice from now on, and she’ll be yours in less than a year.”

            Shippo whimpered, but nodded.

            “Good. Now, why don’t you lie down? I’ll get you a special treat, hmm?”

            Shippo nodded again and shuffled back to his room.

            Kagome groaned in the hallway.

            Her life had just become infinitely more complicated.

…

Adios!

(Is that Spanish or Portuguese?)

T.N.T!