Allies with Benefits
Alright guys, so I got the idea for this a while back and have been working a lot on it recently. I debated on whether or not I should go ahead and post this or wait until I get more of the story written, but I decided in the end to just go ahead and let you guys read it so you could tell me what you think.
Chapter One: A Fate Worse than Death.
“This is all your fault you know.” From her place at the top of the well house steps, Kagome glared daggers at the well. “If you hadn’t pulled me into the feudal era, I wouldn’t have such high expectations in relationships.” Looking at her watch, Kagome groaned as she realized she was late. Hojo was waiting for her and as much as she hated to go, she’d promised him one last date.
It wasn’t that she preferred the men in the feudal era with their silly beliefs about women being little more than property and their general idiocy, but with all her adventures fighting youkai in search of the sacred jewel shards, she’d become accustomed to the excitement. And so, because of that, the thought of dating someone has quiet as Hojo bored her to tears. She needed the thrill of the constant unknown and a relationship with any of her schoolmates would completely lack the spontaneity that she desperately craved. Her friends’ stories of their secret romances, while they had intrigued her in the past, now practically put her to sleep.
But she had others needs too. Needs that she thought she could at least partially pacify by dating Hojo. But Hojo had proved to be even more boring than he seemed at school. He hadn’t even attempted to seduce her in the three weeks she’d been dating him. He’d kissed her goodnight every time they went out, but even those barely qualified as kisses. Finally, she’d had enough. Frustrated beyond belief, when Hojo had shown up for their date a few nights ago, she’d told him to home saying that she had no interest in continuing their relationship. He’d gone home reluctantly, but then the next morning, he’d called her begging her to reconsider. And finally she’d agreed to go on one final date with him, tonight.
She purposely dragged her feet as she approached the steps, unsurprised when she spotted Hojo waiting patiently by his car at the bottom. She took her time walking down the stairs, even if it only delayed the inevitable, half-hoping Inuyasha would come leaping out of the trees and drag her back to the feudal era. But she knew he was still helping Kaede construct the hut for the new girl who was training to become a miko.
“There you are,” Hojo said when she finally made it to the bottom of the stairs. “I was beginning to think you weren’t coming.”
“I promised didn’t I?” She tried to look happy as he opened the car door for her, but inside she was counting down the seconds till the date would be over. She already knew what they would do. Hojo was if anything a creature of habit. First, he would take her to a sit down restaurant where he would try to impress her by bragging about all his achievements at work. And then, they would either go to the park where she would be expected to walk slower than Methuselah while he held her hand and continued with his life story, or he would take her to see a movie.
Sure enough, a few minutes later they arrived at Hanamon, a sukiyaki restaurant known for its high quality beef. As she tried to wait patiently for Hojo to open her door, Kagome couldn’t help but think that she would rather be headed back to Kaede’s hut for one of the simple broth soups the old miko was known for. Fancy food really wasn’t her cup of tea. Or well, if she was honest, it wasn’t so much the food as it was the company that bothered her. She never felt she could really relax in places like this.
The middle-aged waitress smiled at them and led them to a secluded table in the back, obviously thinking to give them the privacy to be romantic. But all Kagome could think was that her options for suitable distractions were now even more limited than before. As the waitress took their orders, Kagome quickly thought back to how long it had been since she’d been on a date with Hojo, groaning when she realized it had been four days since the night that she’d dumped him…which meant it had been almost a week since she’d gone out with him. She inwardly cringed as she thought about all the boring medical stories she would have to sit through tonight.
Sometimes, when Hojo began bragging about his most recent diagnosis at the clinic, she was tempted to ask him if he knew how to treat a hole in someone’s gut or if he knew how to use reiki to treat wounds on a youkai without harming their youki. Hojo’s idea of a rough day was having to give someone a couple of stitches—which was something he said he couldn’t stand doing. She wondered what he would do if he saw the kind of wounds she had to treat every day in the feudal era. Traveling with Inuyasha was bound to turn anyone into an experienced nurse.
“Kagome, are you alright?”
“Huh,” she said softly, shaking her head to dislodge her thoughts. “Sorry Hojo, guess I’m a little out of it.”
“Have a lot on your mind?”
“No, I think it’s more that my mind just wants to take a vacation.” Yeah, a vacation from this date….
“Oh, really? I’m sorry. You shouldn’t work yourself so hard. You don’t want to get sick again.”
“Riiiight,”
Their food arrived a short time later and Hojo began rambling about some patient he’d had the day before while Kagome once again allowed her mind to slip off. As a rather voluptuous woman walked by, Kagome amused herself thinking about how Miroku would react if he saw her. She could picture the monk approaching the woman and calmly asking her to bear his children. And from the way the woman was blatantly flirting with the man sitting at the table next to hers, Kagome didn’t really think she would mind. But of course, thoughts of Miroku hitting on another woman immediately brought to mind how Sango would react. She wondered if her friend would knock Miroku out even in this crowded room, or if she would drag him out of the room first. Normally, Sango wouldn’t waste any time knocking her overly perverted friend over the head whenever he made a lewd comment, but lately she’d noticed Sango developing a penchant for dragging Miroku off somewhere private whenever he tried to grope her. She had a feeling something was going on and she wondered how long it would be before they decided to bring their relationship out into the open.
But the more she thought about it, the more she could understand why they were trying to keep everything a secret. She could see how the secrecy would bring a layer of thrill to the relationship. Having something that was just yours that no one else knew about would definitely make things spicier in her opinion. Now if only she could find someone willing to be her dirty little secret. Inuyasha was out of the question since she no longer felt all that attracted to him. Plus the hanyou couldn’t keep a secret to save his life. She also knew that while Kouga would be more than willing to start a secret romance with her, she had no desire to see him on a regular basis either. His possessiveness aside, Kouga stank. No, regular bathing would definitely have to be a must for her would be lover.
Noticing it had been quite a while since she’d said anything, Kagome looked over to see if Hojo had noticed she wasn’t listening to him, but he was still rambling on about something. Relieved that her cover remained intact, Kagome slipped back into her own thoughts.
I wonder how Inuyasha would react to this place. She wondered, automatically picturing the hanyou walking amongst the tables around them. She could almost hear him mumbling about how boring these people were. But then again, he might be too distracted by the food to notice what anyone was saying. She’d never seen anyone eat like her hanyou friend. But then again, they don’t have any instant ramen…he’d probably say the food was boring too. And then he’d pick me up and drag me back home. If only we hadn’t driven here. Damn modern advancement!
She took another bite of her food, wondering how long Hojo would want to stay before they went on to their next destination. She somewhat hoped they would go to the movies since that would mean she might possibly be able to somewhat distract herself. But then again, the movies Hojo normally took her to see were so boring that she had to fight just to stay awake. He seemed to think that she liked watching chick flicks, which was sometimes true. She did like watching romantic comedies, but the movies he took her to were just romantic or filled with romantic drama and she had never seen the appeal of movies like that. As she tried to force herself to focus on what Hojo was saying, movement out of the corner of her eye drew her attention away. She looked towards the door and watched a tall businessman walk into the restaurant.
Sesshoumaru would probably do that same thing if someone made him come in here, she thought as the man sneered at the voluptuous woman from before. And then almost as soon as she thought it, Kagome wondered why she’d thought of the youkai lord in the first place.
I guess it’s because that man reminds me of him. The man turned and sat down with another man and his wife and Kagome turned back to Hojo, noting thankfully that he had finally finished eating. Placing her chopsticks on the side of her plate to show she was finished as well, Kagome smiled and silently prayed that they would leave soon so that she could be that much closer to the freedom that awaited her at the end of the date.