Ice Cream Shop Mishaps by MoonBeamMistress

Giving Thanks and Cocktail Dresses

  "Sesshomaru, your…uh, wife is on line two. I told her you weren't accepting any calls, but…..um she insisted."

  Feeling the beginnings of a headache, he leaned forward enough to pull the phone from its’ cradle and pressed forcefully down on the button that would connect him to his soon to be ex wife.

  "Kagura, if you are not calling to inform me that you are on your death bed, then this call is going to be very abrupt."

  He heard her huff through the phone. "Very nice to talk to you, too, dear. Listen, that old hag  you keep around won't let me in the house to get my stuff."

  Lifting an elegant hand to pinch the bridge of his nose, he resisted the urge to sigh and steadied the phone between his ear and shoulder as he leaned forward to continue typing up a proposal for an upcoming meeting. "That is because there is nothing in my house that belongs to you."

  "What do you mean there's nothing in there that belongs to me? What about my clothes, my shoes, my jewelry?"

  “All of those things were purchased using my credit card. Everything you claim belongs to you was purchased by me. Therefore, none of it belongs to you. This conversation is over, Kagura. Please, feel free not to speak to me again until our divorce trial.”

  He heard her screech in outrage as he placed the phone back in its’ cradle, his eyes sliding shut as he leaned back in his chair and sighed. That woman was going to be the end of him. She call him at random intervals since the divorce had been put into action to demand money or other amenities she claimed were owed to her, and he was slowly becoming exhausted with her attempts to manipulate him into doing what she wanted. He honestly couldn't figure out at this point why he'd even married her in the first place.

  His thoughts took an unexpected shift then, the young woman from the ice cream shop surfacing to the forefront of his mind. Her actions and kindness the day before had intrigued him greatly. She had known exactly what to do when Rin had been stung and had easily removed the gum from his hair as if things of this nature occurred regularly in her life. She seemed to have an extreme level of motherly instinct for someone who had no actual children of her own, something that he found highly appealing. A woman that took care of her children and did it well was sadly a rare thing to come by in this day and age. Demoness’ and human women alike were more worried about their career and own personal gain, their pups usually ending up shoved off on a over-paid nanny.

  "I must thank her properly for her assistance."

  Deciding that a trip to Rin's favorite ice cream parlor was in order after work, he picked the phone back up and dialed his home phone number.

  "Taishou Residence."

  "Kaede, I will be taking Rin out when I return from work. Have her dressed and ready by four."

  "Yes, sir, anything else?"

  He thought for a moment of having the old woman retrieve some sort of small gift for him to give to the young woman , but then decided that he would take her somewhere to choose her own gift later on.

  "No, that will be all."

  "Alright, sir, see ye at four."

  "Hn."

~_~_~

  Kagome sighed as she pushed the front door to Stack Em Up Ice cream parlor open and eyed the large crowd that was crammed into the tiny building.

  "Great, God forbid I have an easy shift on a day when i've got a mountain of homework to do."

  Slipping behind the counter, she jogged to the back to hang up her coat and purse and raced back to the front.

  "Getting killed up here, eh Sango?"

  Her friend shot her the evil eye as she handed a cone to the couple across the counter and took the next order.

  "Yeah…understatement of the century, this is ridiculous for a Sunday isn't it?"

  Drizzling some fudge into the cup she was constructing a tin roof sundae in, she added a scoop of peanuts on top before she handed it to Sango and turned back to make the other part of the order.

  "Yeah, it is pretty odd to be this busy on a Sunday, this is Friday rush."

  "Hey you!"

  Looking up at the teenage girl standing on the other side of the counter, Kagome gave her a confused look before pointing a finger at herself.

  "Me?"

  "Yeah, aren't you the girl who was on the front page of the paper this morning?"

  Now that was weird. Kagome hadn't been confused for someone else since her cousin Kikyou had been in town; a series of odd and embarrassing confrontations between a multitude of people, who thought she was her famous psychic relative, had had her ducking and weaving through crowds for weeks to avoid being stopped and asked to give a free future reading.

  "No, i'm sorry, you must be confusing me with someone else."

  The girl squinted at her, scrutinizing her form carefully before turning to her boyfriend and asking him if he thought Kagome was the person they'd seen on the front of the Sunday morning paper.

  "Yeah, it is you, you were sitting on a bench at a park somewhere."

  Uh, huh? Realizing that ,yes, she had been at the park the previous afternoon, she found herself confused as to why she would be on the front cover of the Sunday morning paper for reading a book at the park.

  "I'm really sorry, I don't think i'm who you saw. I'm just a college student, there's really no reason for me to be in the paper."

  "I know it was you, you were sitting with Mr. Taishou."

  Taishou, now why did that name sound familiar. Racking her brain to see if she could put a first name with it, she was suprised to hear Sango tell the couple to get out of the way.

  "She said it wasn't her, so let it be. We're very busy today and you're holding up the line, so now that you have your order, I would kindly ask you to please find a seat or leave, thank you."

  Kagome watched a sour look cross over the girl’s face as she grabbed her boyfriend's arm and dragged him through the crowd to the front door.

  When the rush finally died down an hour or so later , Sango grabbed her stuff and wished Kagome luck for the rest of her shift.

  "Hey, Sango, could you do me a favor before you head home?"

  "Sure, what's up?"

  Digging around in her pocket, she fished out a crumpled five dollar bill and handed it to the taller girl. "Could you go pick me up a paper at that stand down the road? I'm curious to see this look-alike that those teens thought I was."

  Sango laughed. "Yeah sure, but you know she probably looks nothing like you. I mean, I think it's kind of funny they thought you were hanging out at the park with Sesshomaru Taishou; he doesn't seem like the kinda guy who would hang out at the park with college girls."

  Sesshomaru....Taishou? Kagome felt her heart slam against her ribcage and stop beating for a moment, an image of the handsome demon surfacing in her mind as she resisited the urge to smack herself in the head. How had she not realized who he was sooner? Sesshomaru Taishou, the CEO of Taishou Corporation and owner of half of Japan, came in twice a week with his daughter to get her an ice cream cone and silly Kagome had been crushing on him for months without even realizing who he was.

  "Oh, oh my God, Sango please go get me that paper."

  "Kagome, are you alright?"

  Rubbing a shaking hand across her face, she placed her palms on the counter to steady herself and nodded her head. "Yeah, i'm fine, but please go pick up that paper for me, you can keep the change for doing it."

  "Are you sure you're alright?  You look pale."

  "Yeah, i'm fine, i'm just getting a headache. I'll go take some tylenol while you're gone and it'll be fine."

  Hovering in the doorway for a moment, not quite convinced her young friend was as fine as she said, Sango shot her a worried look before telling her she'd be right back and left.

  Sesshomaru Taishou, the Sesshomaru Taishou had brought his daughter for a playdate with her son at a local park, he'd been in her tiny, inexpensive apartment and...."Oh my God, Sesshomaru Taishou was naked in my house!"

  Thinking back to yesterday's events and how casually she'd offered to let him wash his hair in her shower after she'd removed all of the gum from it, she felt her face heat up. She, Kagome Higurashi, had let Japan's richest man, Sesshomaru Taishou get naked and shower in her tiny little bathroom. She'd even gone so far as to help him towel his hair dry when he was done.

  "Oh, I think i'm going to pass out."

  "Are you ill?"

  Shaking her head in the negative, she began to explain that she just had a headache when her brain registered to whom exactly that voice belonged to and looked up to find the object of her distress and his daughter standing on the other side of the counter.

  "Se...Sesshomaru...."

  "Kagome, Rin is happy to see you, Rin came to say thank you for making her feel better yesterday!"

  Looking down at the little girl, she gave her a strained smile. "You’re very welcome Rin, i'm just sorry you got hurt while you were out playing with Shippou."

  "It is not your fault, you do not control whom bees choose to attack."

  Dragging her gaze back to the stoic youkai with no small amount of difficulty, she shook her head. "I know, but I still feel bad."

  He studied her carefully, noting her pale complexion and the slight glazing of her eyes as she looked up at him in a slight daze, the deliacte sniff he took of her scent telling him that she was, in fact, not sick, just very nervous about something.

  "I realized today I did not thank you properly for your assistance with Rin and myself yesterday and have come to remedy that. Are you available tomorrow evening?"

  Was she available tomorrow evening? At this point she couldn't even remember what her own name was, let alone her schedule for the next day. With the skill and finesse of a mentally challenged being, she blinked up at him stupidly and let her mouth fall open comically. "Uh, what?"

  "Papa wants to know if you'll let him take you out for dinner tomorrow night. Rin thinks you should, papa always goes to resturants with yummy food."

  Sesshomaru Taishou wants to take plain old, little me out to dinner? Shaking her head to clear it, Kagome looked up at him and attempted to respond like an intellegent adult. "Uh, sure, i'm off tomorrow, so yeah, uh what time should I meet you?"

  "That is unnecessary, I will retrieve you from your home at seven, dress formally."

  "Ok."

  After a moment, Rin asked for her usual order and Kagome turned to make it absentmindedly. If she was reading this situation correctly, she had a dinner date with buisness tycoon Sesshomaru Taishou tomorrow and with a mental shriek she realized she didn't have a single thing she could wear to an expensive resturant. Turrning to hand the cone to Rin, she plastered a smile on her face that she hoped hid the internal tempest of a panic attack, she was currently having, and wished them a good evening.

  Once he was out the door, she slumped onto the counter and sighed in relief to have a few quiet moments to contemplate this new turn of events.

  "Kagome!"

  God help me. Looking up at her frantic friend barreling toward the front counter, she sighed and prepared herself for the chaotic conversation that was about to occur.

  Slapping the paper down on the counter, Sango stabbed her finger at the picture and looked at her friend. "Please tell me that isn't you in that picture, tell me it's Kikyou or it's some kind of freak coincidence that she's wearing the dress I bought you for your birthday last year and that she looks exactly like you!"

  Sighing, Kagome let her eyes slide shut as she leaned her elbow on the counter and rested her head in her upraised palm. "It's me."

  Sango made a startled sound in the back of her throat. "And would you be so kind as to inform me why you were lounging on a bench at the park with Sesshomaru Taishou, no wait, better yet, how in the hell do you even know him?"

  "He comes in twice a week with his daughter to get her an ice cream cone, he was just here actually."

  This bit of information seemed to throw the older girl for a loop, her widened eyes stretching larger as she reeled back and slapped herself in the forehead. "Kagome, do you realize the magnitute of this? You know Sesshomaru Taishou, CEO of Taishou corporation, he owns like most of Japan and has like a bazillion dollars, not to mention he's got to be the hottest piece of youkai ass this side of...well anywhere and he's in the middle of a divorce battle with his wife! Why didn't you tell me you knew him?!"

  "I didn't know it was him."

  "You didn't know it was him."

  "No."

  Sango looked at her disbelievingly. "How could you not know it was him!?"

  She shook her head. "Well i've never really seen any pictures of the CEO of Taishou Corporation. I just assumed he was a nicely dressed, incredibly good-looking youkai."

  They fell into silence then, Kagome realizing she was going to have to excite the older girl just a little more by telling her about her invitation to dinner tomorrow. "Um, Sango, can you watch Shippou tomorrow night? I....have a date."

  The older girl's eyes narrowed. "And with whom do you have a date with?"

  Kagome directed her gaze back to the pink counter. "Uh Sesshomaru..."

  Sango looked like she was going to explode. "Kagome!"

  "Could I borrow one of your dresses, too.....I, uh, don't really have anything to wear."

  Sango cackled evily. "Of course i'll watch your darling son and you most certainly can borrow one of my dresses, but on one condition."

  Kagome felt a heavy dose of unease settle into her gut. "And what is this one condition?"

  Sango grinned. "I get to pick it out, i've got this great cocktail dress that...."

  Kagome groaned. Something told her that the outfit she'd be sporting tomorrow would leave her dignity less than intact.