Title: Of Wasted Saturdays & Chance Encounters.
Author: Hairann
Prompt: Texting while driving
Rating: T
Genre: Humor, Friendship and slight Romance
Word count: 5133
Summary: This story is for Fluffy Lady for supporting Dokuga :). Sesshoumaru was perfectly happy sitting behind his desk in his air conditioned office on a Saturday afternoon, but someone had other plans and somehow talked him into driving her to meet her friends. Now stuck there until she was ready to go, he couldn't help but try and get some work done so he wouldn't waste his Saturday, but would a chance encounter change his mind?
...
The hot summer sun beat down on the hood of the car as it stayed frozen in place as it had for the last 15 minutes. Not for the first time, the driver of said car found himself wishing he was still in the air conditioned office he worked in and not stuck here in the endless traffic, no doubt all heading to the same destination he was. A place he had no desire to go but the passenger had insisted they just had to go. As if being the only one not heading there on a Saturday afternoon would have proven them to be 'losers'; her words not his.
As far as he was concerned, had they stayed home they would have been the only ones with some semblance of intelligence, but that went right out the window along with all of the cool air. For some unknown reason the girl beside him had insisted on keeping her window rolled down, mumbling something about needing the fresh air even though it meant the cool air the A/C pumped in was blown right out. No matter had hard he tried, he couldn't get her to understand there being no logic in her argument and was simply causing them more discomfort than they needed to be in.
About to give up on being Mr. Nice Guy, he glanced toward her to insist on her shutting the window when he discovered the real reason she had wanted it open. She was silently flirting with the punk driving the car next to theirs. Giving the way too old for her boy a once over and noticing he was unable to count the number of piercing as there were just too many, the driver did the logical thing and rolled up the window from his side of the car.
Her grumbling was instantaneous as she had to pull her arms back out of the way and turned to glare at him. “What'cha do that for? He was really cute,” she insisted as she folded her arms across her chest and continued to glare at him. For the most part, he ignored her tantrum and moved up an inch once the car in front of him had. “You're such a kill joy, Inuyasha never would have embarrassed me like that,” she informed him before adjusting her seat back and putting her feet up on the dashboard.
“If Inuyasha is letting you flirt with a punk 10 years your senior, I think I need to have a talk with him as well. Now get your feet down from there. If we were to get into an accident, the air bag would smush you in half,” he warned before turning his attention back to the road once more and inched forward. Too busy paying attention to the road, he completely missed the way she scrunched up her nose at him.
“Sesshoumaru that is so morbid. Who talks about car crashes and being 'smushed in half'? Seriously I think Inuyasha is right, there's something really wrong with you,” she told him even as she removed her legs from the dashboard, but remained laying back in her seat. “And he was not 10 years older than me. He was only like 16,” she insisted before turning to glance out the window once more, hoping to catch sight of the boy only to find he had moved up a car's length in the next lane and was flirting with another girl in the car ahead of them. One that looked closer to his actual age.
“There is no way he was 16, Rin, he was at least early 20's and that is way too old for a 13-year-old and the fact that he was even flirting with someone so young proves he was a pathetic excuse for a man,” Sesshoumaru insisted, undisturbed by the way the girl whined beside him. “Do not give me that look, Rin. What kind of an older brother would I be if I let you fall prey to a predator like him?” he questioned rhetorically, not surprised when she refused to answer him.
After a long tense moment of silence had passed between the two of them, Rin finally rolled her eyes before turning her attention to the volume nob on the car radio in front of her. Turning it on and up far louder than it needed to be, she growled under her breath when she realized the station her brother had left it on was business radio. Mumbling under her breath about him being the oldest 25-year-old in the world, she quickly began switching through the stations as she tried to find one she could tolerate.
A few moments later she finally settled on a rock station that had Sesshoumaru quickly wishing he didn't have a radio in his car to begin with. He tried to put up with the music, if you could call it that, but there was only so much screaming into a mike that he could stand and finally having had enough, he reached over and shut the radio off. Instantly Rin began to complain, but he paid her little mind. “If you had chosen a station with actual music on it, I would have let it be. You will not be destroying my hearing simply so you can go through your rebellious stage.”
“Wow, grandpa, I didn't know your hearing was going already. Should we get you settled into a home then?” Rin mocked, earning a glare from her older brother before he was forced to turn his attention back to the road ahead of them as the cars moved a few inches forward and he followed suit. Deciding to let the insult drop as getting on her case about it would probably just serve to prove her point, Sesshoumaru kept his attention on the road and ignored the girl beside him.
Sighing in complete exasperation as only a teenager could do, Rin relaxed back in her seat as she fished her cellphone out of her pocket. Flipping it open and realizing she had two missed texts, she quickly read them over and found them to be from her best friend. The first simply said that they were going to meet her at the beach. The second was asking where she was as everyone else was already there waiting. Glancing over at her brother and to the traffic in front of them, Rin sighed heavily once more.
A quick 'on the way, brother took too long, stuck in traffic' message later, abbreviated into random letters that had only the slightest resemblance to actual words, and she was feeling slightly better, at least until he brother wrenched the phone out of her hands and tossed it into the back seat. Unknown to her, the tapping on the keys had gotten on his nerves and it had taken his last ounce of patience to not roll down his window and toss it out.
“What'cha do that for?” she demanded for the second time that trip as she glanced over her shoulder to make sure the phone hadn't been damaged when he tossed it. Satisfied that it would live to see another day, she turned back to glare at her brother only to find he still had his eyes on the road and seemed to be completely oblivious to her anger. “Hello?! Why did you throw my phone into the backseat?!” she demanded pulling on his shirt sleeve to make sure he had his attention.
“It is illegal to send text messages while driving,” Sesshoumaru informed her, completely missing the look of disbelief that crossed her face as she tried to decide if he was serious or not. After a minute, she decided it didn't matter either way and huffed as she collapsed back into her seat grumbling under her breath that it was only talking about the person who was actually driving. “In my car it is illegal for anyone to text while I'm driving.”
About to tell him only the government could make up new laws, Rin decided against it when she realized they were the next car to reach the ticket booth. All they had to do now was pay the entrance fee and they would be parking in the lot near the beach. She was so close to the ocean she could already taste the salt. There was no sense in annoying her brother further at this point and risk having him refuse to drop her off.
As Sesshoumaru handed over the few yen that was requested for parking, he ignored the way his sister's fingers tapped impatiently on the car door. He couldn't really blame her too much as the acne ridden teenager behind the plastic window was taking forever to count out his change; having already miscounted twice and had to start over from the beginning. Just as he was about to lose the last bit of his own patience and forget about his change, the teller finally handed it over. Sesshoumaru decided it was wise not to point out the fact that he was short.
Quickly spotting one of the few parking spaces that were still free, Sesshoumaru pulled into it, noticing Rin barely waited until the car had stopped before jumping out of the door. “Rin get back here!” he called after her but she merely waved her hand dismissively over her shoulder and quickly got lost in the crowd. Rolling his eyes as he wondered if she realized things would be much worse now that she had taken off, Sesshoumaru grabbed a blanket and his laptop out of the backseat and followed after her at a slower pace.
As he crested the nearest sand dune, he almost instantly spotted his little sister pulling her t-shirt over her head to reveal a way too revealing bikini. Sesshoumaru stood there for a long moment as he tried to calm his nerves before realizing a bunch of men were turning their heads to glance at her as they walked by. Growling under his breath about how they gave real men a bad name, Sesshoumaru stormed over to where her group of friends were and pulled Rin to her feet just as she was about to lay down and sun bath.
“That is not the bathing suit mother approved for today. You have two choices Rin, you can either wear an non-white t-shirt over it or you can actually wear a bathing suit fitted for your age. 13 is far too young to be turning oneself into a sexualized piece of meat that has disgusting grown men fawning over them,” Sesshoumaru insisted as he raised his voice enough to scare off any others who were stupid enough to still be checking her out after his appearance.
“God Sesshoumaru, you're my brother not my father. Why do you have to be such a kill joy? I'm just here to hang out with my friends, not to pick up some nasty old perv. And there is nothing wrong with my bikini, everything is completely covered,” Rin insisted as she folded her arms across her chest after yanking them free of her brother's grasp before turning to glare at him. Instead of answering her right away, he grabbed her bag off of the ground next to her towel and rummaged through it until he had discovered she had in fact packed her one piece.
Ignoring her grumbles of invasion of privacy, he held up the bathing suit before her with one hand as he pointed to her discarded shirt with the other. “One piece or t-shirt, those are the only choices you have and I suggest you make one quickly. Or I will drag your butt back home and you can explain to our parents why you were dressed in such a manner. And the fact that it is a bikini is what's wrong with it. Bikinis are for women who actually have the body to fill them out and are old enough to decide if they are to be viewed as meat.
“You are most certainly not and you have the body of a child, as do all of your little friends here. And do not think I will not be informing your mother of the piece of string you seemed to misguidedly think was a bathing suit, Kanna,” he told the girl who had sent Rin the text messages earlier as she went to open her mouth and no doubt complain about how he was acting. “Last chance Rin, pick or I will,” Sesshoumaru warned and watched in veiled satisfaction as she yanked the bathing suit from his hand before stalking off toward the women's changing room.
Ignoring the looks he was getting from her friends, Sesshoumaru waited silently until his sister returned; now sporting a very modest one piece swimsuit. “Much better. Now I am going to go sit over there in the shade and get some work done where I can keep an eye on you. Just let me know when you are ready to leave,” he instructed as he gestured toward the only open table set around. As he walked away, he didn't quite hear her response but as he doubted it was something nice, he figured he was better off not knowing what she said.
Glad to finally have some time to himself, Sesshoumaru sat himself down in one of the lounge chairs after making sure it was completely under the shade of the umbrella overhead. He waited a few moments for the laptop to boot up before quickly getting back to the work he had put off to bring Rin to the beach today. Other than the occasional glance toward their group to make sure Rin and her friends were keeping out of trouble, he was soon completely absorbed in what he was working on.
So much so in fact that he didn't hear the soft voice talking to him until she had called out for the third time. “Do you mind if I sit with you? The other tables are all full,” she explained as she gestured toward the other tables nearby. As she was standing outside of the umbrella's shade, Sesshoumaru had to shield his eyes in order to see her through the sun's glare. When he did, he couldn't help but look over her form in appreciation.
Now this was a woman who understood that modesty was beautiful. She wore a simply navy blue one piece that was covered with an off white, button up, see-through shirt. Her hair she had pulled up into a simple bun and wore a large pair of glasses at the bridge of her nose. “Of course,” Sesshoumaru insisted when he realized she was still waiting for his answer and gestured toward the seat across from him.
“Thank you very much. That much sun is bad for the skin, but someone had to come and watch the boys,” she explained as she took the offered seat before turning her attention out toward the beach and for a moment Sesshoumaru felt his mood fall in disappointment. Though it only lasted until he followed her line of sight and realized the boys she was referring to must have been her brothers as they were far too old to be her children as he had first suspected.
“They look around the same age as my little sister,” Sesshoumaru informed her, wanting to keep the conversation going as he gestured toward where Rin was sun bathing with her friends. “I'm Sesshoumaru by the way and the melodramatic teenager that is currently glaring at me, is my little sister Rin,” Sesshoumaru introduced as he pointedly stared his sister's glare down before turning his attention back to the woman beside him.
“I'm Kagome and the two that haven't yet realized that building sand castles become lame once you learn how to swim on your own are Souta and Shippo, my little brothers. I would call them over for introductions, but I'm afraid they would bite my head off if I tried to interrupt them for anything that wasn't an emergency. That and they would get sand all over your laptop,” Kagome half-joked when she noticed he was closing it up and placing it on the table between them.
“I agree it would be best to let the children continue to play as it would give the adults more time to talk. If you do not mind me asking, what is it you do for a living?” Sesshoumaru inquired as he turned in his lounge chair just enough so he would be facing her while still being able to keep an eye on his sister. She seemed to have the same idea as she repositioned herself in such a way that she could still see her brothers and yet be facing him at the same time.
“Actually that depends on who you ask. If it's my grandfather, I am a shrine priestess that is training to take over our family's shrine when he retires, but the truth is that I'm actually a freelance writer. I write mostly articles for children's or food magazines. I'm hoping to save enough money to move out before he decides to retire and I lose the option. The last thing I want to be is a shrine priestess,” she insisted, blushing a moment later when she realized just how much she was telling a man she had only just met.
“A family shrine, huh? Not something you hear about very often nowadays. Most shrines were converted to churches and are owned by businesses instead of families. A shrine priestess is a very respectable position, may I ask why you do not wish to be one?” Sesshoumaru inquired only to have to take his attention off of her before she could answer when he heard a disturbance coming from Rin's group.
Glancing over, he found a group of college boys talking to the girls of the group; completely ignoring the glares coming from the boys. As Sesshoumaru looked them over, about to dismiss them as harmless as long as they left soon, he realized he recognized one. Leaning over and talking to Rin as he made some gesture toward her swimsuit, was the pierced punk from the car ride over. Sesshoumaru tried his best to hold his temper, he really did, but he lost his last bit of control when he leaned over too closely and whispered something to Rin that had her eyes widening with fear.
The second she glanced toward him, her eyes pleading for her big brother to come to her rescue, Sesshoumaru was already rushing to her side. “Leave.” The harsh whisper was all he said after stopping behind the punk and standing at his full height, knowing the moment he turned around to face him, he would be towering over him. Just as he expected to happen, the moment the punk turned around, mumbling something about being busy, his eyes grew impossibly large when he realized just how much bigger than him he was.
“Take your pathetic friends who get a kick out of hitting on a 13-year-old and get off of this beach before I call the police on you for stalking. You have exactly one second,” Sesshoumaru warned him, glaring darkly at him and watching in veiled satisfaction as his friends scattered in the wind leaving their leader behind. About to talk back, sure his friends would back him up, the punk realized they had already abandoned him and took off running after them.
“This is why I tell you, you should dress your age, Rin. What do you think would have happened had I not been here? Be more aware of the danger around you,” Sesshoumaru pleaded before making sure she was alright and heading back toward the table he had suddenly abandoned. Much to his relief, Kagome was still there, as was his stuff. “Forgive me. I do believe you were about to tell me why you did not wish to be a priestess,” he prompted her, hoping she would forgive him for taking off without a word just as she had opened her mouth to answer him.
“I completely understand. Little siblings come first,” she assured him with a bright smile that had Sesshoumaru wanting to return it, no matter how much a smile may seen strange of the face of someone as serious as himself. “For as long as I can remember, the one thing I've wanted more than anything in the world is to one day get married and have children of my own. Before we moved onto my grandfather's shrine, our mother used to work a lot to pay the bills and I was left to watch the boys.
“I remember that when everyone my age was out playing and thinking their younger siblings were lame, I was having fun playing house with my brothers. The more I watched and fed them, the more I began to understand what it was like to be a mother and I couldn't wait for it to actually be my turn,” Kagome explained only to be met by a slightly confused raising of his brow. “You don't understand what one has to do with the other right?”
After receiving his nod of confirmation, she continued, “My grandfather is rather old fashion and, well, he's chauvinistic. He believes that since no children I might have will carry on his family name, there is no point in me having children. My brothers will give him plenty of great-grandchildren that will carry on his name and he believes they should go off to college and experience the world while they're young.
“He had actually wanted to have me take over the moment I graduated from high school, but I managed to convince him that I would give the shrine a bad name if I didn't at least have a college degree. Course, that will be achieved at the end of the next semester. So I'm trying to save up enough that when I refuse him, I'll be able to take care of myself.” As Kagome fell into silence, she watched his face for signs of what he was thinking about everything she had just said, but found he had no expression the entire time.
“Our families are not all that different,” Sesshoumaru began, smirking at the shocked expression on Kagome's face. “My family has a long history of being part of the Diet. I have never seen my father so angry as the day I told him I was going into business instead. He looked like I was letting the whole family down simply because I did not want to be in politics. He refused to speak to me the entire time I was in college and we did not reconnect until last year.
“He was having some health problems and ended up needing a kidney. We made up while we were waiting on my tests results and he's actually proud of me now for accomplishing so much in such a short time. Course, the funny thing is I ended up not being a match. My younger brother Inuyasha was,” Sesshoumaru told her with a soft chuckle as he turned his eyes from the beach, where they had shifted to while he was talking, and glanced back over at her.
“Wow, we're just a pair of rebels aren't we? Glad you were able to patch things up with your dad, but how did you do it? How did you manage to get out from under him and do your own thing so easily? Or was it just harder than you made it sound?” Kagome inquired after a moment before turning her attention back to the beach when she heard a boy shouting. When she realized it was neither of her brothers and the boy was talking to his mother, she turned her attention back to her new found companion.
“Well, I have a trust fund that I was able to access the moment I graduated high school and actually told my father about my plans two days afterward. Thankfully it was set up by my grandfather so my father could not take it away. Actually though, I may be able to help you too,” he began as a memo he had read earlier in the week came to mind. Seeing she was about to reject his offer before even hearing him, he interrupted her.
“I do not mean to give or loan you money, so do not think that. The company I work for is looking to hire a manual writer. It's very dull, technical writing and would not be anywhere near as fun as children's magazines, however, the pay would be worth it. You would, of course, have to interview for the job, but the company is pretty desperate. Our last writer quit without warning and he was already months behind on his work.
“Call this number,” he instructed as he pulled one of his company's business cards out of his pocket and handed it to her, “and mention my name. I'll let the HR department know to expect to hear from you. But that is enough about work, why don't you tell me more about yourself.” Seeing she seemed to be a bit uncomfortable at the idea of getting a job interview, or at least prospect, from a man she had just met, Sesshoumaru decided to be nice and change the subject to a more friendly direction.
“There's not really much to tell. I'm the oldest child and only daughter of a single parent family. I'm about to graduate from college with a degree in religious studies and one in journalism. I will be turning 24 in a few short months. I graduated third in my high school class, though I doubt even a single person would remember who I was. I was so busy studying, writing and practicing archery, per my grandfather's demand, to make any friends.
“And the glasses I'm wearing are for looks alone. I find people tend to treat me as someone of my intelligence if I 'look' smarter. My mind is usually elsewhere and people took it as me being flaky. With the glasses, people automatically assume I'm smart. What about you? Tell me about Sesshoumaru, the father defying business man,” Kagome prompted with a smile as she took her glasses off and set them down on the table as though to prove they were fake.
“I am 25 and one of two assistant directors of public relations at the company. Which basically means we oversee how the public views our company. What advertisements are done or what articles on us are published. The other is 10 years my senior and I would be working alone, but some feared a man as young as me would be unable to handle the work load by myself. Apparently most 25-year-olds were irresponsible and still acting like they were in college.
“But it is actually my senior that acts like that. He spends more of his time on the golf course and out at clubs than he does at the office. I have been doing his work load since a week after I got the promotion, but I do not mind too much as I have been stockpiling evidence against him and soon I will take it to the director. Once that happens, and it becomes known that I have been handling myself just fine this entire time, I will drop the pesky co title.
“I have two siblings, both of which I have already mentioned, and I am the oldest of the three. Next is Inuyasha and then Rin. We each actually have different mothers as women tend to get tired of my father quickly and move on to other men that would actually pay attention to them. He's actually pretty romantic when they're dating, or so I've heard, but once the Honeymoon is over, it's really over. I'm pretty sure Rin's mother is only still around since her daughter is still so young and because she's actually very delicate.”
“Married three times? Wow my father couldn't even stand to be married once,” Kagome joked, apparently having had enough time to get accustomed to her father leaving in order to make jokes about it. “Bummers, it looks like my time might be up,” she complained when she realized her brothers were making their way over toward them. “What's up guys? You can't be tired of the beach already, can you?”
“We're hungry,” the two whined at the same time, a moment before one of their stomachs decided to growl causing Kagome to laugh. When Shippo glared at her, it was easy for her to figure out that it had been his that made the noise.
“Well it looks like I have to go now. It was lovely talking to you though and I will be sure to let you know how the interview turns out,” Kagome assured her new friend as she stood up and graced him with a bright smile.
“Would you mind terribly if we joined you?” Sesshoumaru inquired as he gestured toward where his sister and her friends were, not wanting his time with her to end just yet. “My treat of course,” he assured her when she seemed to have to think about it. The cheers coming from her brothers seemed help make up her mind for her and Kagome simply nodded her head with a smile in response. Turning toward the others, Sesshoumaru called out, “If you want to go for something to eat, be in the car in 30 seconds.”
Instantly the boys of the group where rushing toward the parking lot in a spray of disrupted sand leaving the two girls to glare at him for a moment before apparently being won out by the thought of food and following after them at a much slower pace as they grabbed their belongings. “Guess we'll follow you,” Kagome called back to him with a smile as she rushed after her brothers who were already taking off toward her car.
Grabbing his laptop, Sesshoumaru watched them depart for a moment in silence before grinning to himself. Okay so he could admit it, even if only to himself. Maybe spending the day at the beach wasn't the worst way he could spend his Saturday.