The Guy Next Door by Vicious Grin
Late Night Rants
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of the characters. They belong to Rumiko Takahashi.
Ok, so this is just the first chapter or a story I really needed to get out of my head. Its going to be put on hold for a while until I get back to the other two, but I had to post it 'cause its been driving me up the wall!
Review and let me know what you think. Its going to be finished one way or another. I don't abandon any of my stories.
Rated R for language and adult situations.
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CHAPTER 1: LATE NIGHT RANTS
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Man, I hate my house. Well, it isn't my house per se...but more like the people I live around. Namely my next door neighbors to the right. That damn Taisho family. The husband and wife seem kind of nice - the few times I've actually seen them. They even have a son. I know his name is Shippou. He's a darling little kid, but is a little devil at heart.
I was approached by his mother a couple weeks ago and she asked if I could watch him for a couple hours. Where's the harm in that, right? I have a two year old daughter, Rin. She's the light of my life. Even though he's a few years older than her, I was sure the two would have found a way to get along for the time being. I didn't know how wrong I was. The second he walked through my door, my baby started crying. I looked over at her crib and saw some giant inflated clown running back and forth in front of her. How he got that thing in undetected, I'll never know, but it scared the shit out of me!
And I'm supposed to be the brave one.
Seeing my little bundle of light screaming her head off, I did what any scared shitless mother would do - I screamed, grabbed it by its big, puffy, red nose, and threw the damn clown across the room. Unbeknownst to me, that little demon child was attached to the bottom and was thrown along with the doll, hitting his little red head on the wall. He didn't cry, but I could tell he was in a good amount of pain. I felt so bad for him and held a pack of ice to his head as I cradled him in my lap. But he said he was fine. After that, he was a good helper around the house and I rewarded him with a fresh batch of cookies. I love his good side. Too bad he stays locked up in the house most of the day.
If it weren't for Shippou, I would have told off his parents so many months ago. His father is some businessman with long white hair, pretty attractive for his age, and insists on owning two cars for himself while his wife drives a giant black SUV of her own! This neighborhood street is narrow enough, and the geniuses who designed the layout decided my house didn't need a driveway. (That could be why I got this place so damn cheap...) I am a single mother with one car and a cranky little baby on my hands. I don't have time to drive down the street to find a parking space because that woman's precious SUV doesn't fit in her driveway! I need to be able to get up and go! Not get up and run a mile down the street in two inch heels holding a baby carrier in one hand and a briefcase in the other. And that's not the only thing.
This family has at least three big gatherings a month. (Even less parking for me.) They all consist of heavy drinking, loud music, horrible karaoke singing, along with broken liquor bottles and soiled diapers in front of my house. I found a bunch of broken eggs sitting in front of my car once...
At first I thought Shippou went somewhere else for the duration of those parties, but I can easily look out my bedroom window and get a clear view of both the inside of their living room and master bedroom, and I always see him bouncing around with a few other children. I also saw my fair share of things I'd rather not mention, so from then on, my window has remained covered.
I can't even open it to let some air in because of those people. Every night they are so loud, I have a hard time calming Rin down and putting her to sleep. The last thing I want to deal with is a sleepless night because of some idiots who can't keep their music down. God, I sound like a miserable old maid. I'm only 25 for Christ's sake! ...a 25 year old single mother with a full time job. I should be the one playing the loud music and having parties that last till dawn. Not the other way around.
Its times like these I wonder what happened to me. In high school I had plenty of friends. I was so happy and free back then. My friends and I were all like one big family, with me acting as some sort of mother figure. I was even voted most likely to get married and have children before thirty.
Well, they got the kid part right.
Don't get me wrong, I love Rin with every fiber of my being, but as much as I don't want to say it, to many people she would be considered an accident. I was young, drunk and thought I was in love. Then her father ran off with some red head named Ayame and started a family of his own with her. I wasn't as mad as I thought I would be. I already saw the warning signs, but I wanted a baby of my own so bad. By the time he left, I realized I may have made the stupidest decision of my life... until I saw her beady brown eyes staring back up at me in the hospital room. That was the first time I cried since he left.
Kouga. That was his name. Kouga Ookami. He was there to help me with her birth. I'm glad Ayame was fine with it. I know I couldn't have done it on my own. He sends me monthly checks, even though I told him he didn't have to. But he insisted, and I figured I probably should since Rin is half his, anyway. The last I heard from him, he moved his family to Kyoto because of work. He was the only person I really befriended since high school, and now I'm alone with Rin here in Tokyo stuck to deal with the neighbors from Hell. Or so I thought.
Last week was horrible. My boss went off on me for falling asleep at my desk and gave me a two hour lecture on the importance of family companies... or some shit like that. I'm sure his kids never woke up in the middle of the night with a fever. It was Rin's first real sickness and I had to rush her to the emergency room. Her fever went well over 100 and I did everything I could not to panic. By five, her temperature went down and they allowed me to bring her home. Unfortunately, I had to rush to get ready for work and drop little Rin off with my mother. After all, she was more experienced with the flu than I was. My poor baby. Thank god it was Friday.
Anyway, after finally getting Rin to bed that night, I decided I really needed a cigarette. Three years of going cold turkey was long enough, and the stress finally got to me. I couldn't smoke in front of my baby, let alone in the same house as her, so my only choice was outside. I opened the window a bit and pulled up the blinds so I could see clearly into the room should she wake up, and made my way outside. Coincidentally, the Taishos decided it was time for another party.
I sat on a little stack of blocks in front of my bedroom window, savoring the flavor of the nicotine goodness while the Taisho party could see me clear as day through their glass living room doors. I probably looked like some psycho mother ready to beat up anyone who dare interrupt her smoking time. What did I care? They were horrible neighbors anyway.
I looked back through the window to check on the still sleeping Rin, when I heard a deep, smooth, voice call out from behind me.
"Got a light?"
I spun around to see a man, a little over six feet tall, with long, silver, hair and piercing golden eyes standing behind the little chain link fence that separated the properties. He was looking at me holding a pack of cigarettes out. I guess I must have been staring at him because he lifted his eyebrow when I didn't answer.
"Oh!" I shook my head, breaking out of my trance. "Yeah, here." I held out my little silver lighter for him. It was a cheap little thing, but it got the job done.
After maybe five minutes of silence, I finally decided to speak up. "So... I've never seen you here before."
He just looked at me. "Do you always spy on their guests?"
"No." I blushed, feeling extremely stupid and embarrassed.
I heard him chuckling. "I'm just here until I can finally move into my house some blocks away from this place. The idiots who live there needed more time to move out while my old home is already emptied of my belongings and occupied by another family."
"Well that sucks." I stated matter-of-factly.
He nodded. "I've always hated Inuyasha's parties."
"Inuyasha?"
He gave me that weird look again. "The guy you live next door to."
If my face wasn't red enough, it was now. "Oh."
He held out his hand to me. "Sesshoumaru Taisho."
I smiled and shook it. "Kagome Higurashi." Great. Another one.
He nodded and leaned back on the fence, looking upwards. It was, surprisingly, a clear night and we could see more stars than usual shining in the sky. With the moon being a full one, it was a beautiful sight. We both stood like this for a while until I heard Rin's cries from my bedroom window. He looked back at me and I smiled apologetically at him.
"My baby's sick."
He nodded in understanding. I could have sworn I saw a little look of dejection, but it was impossible to tell with his stoic expression.
"It was nice meeting you Mr. Taisho."
He held up his hand. "Just call me Sesshoumaru."
I nodded. "Alright. Sesshoumaru."
I put out my cigarette and was ready to head back inside when he spoke up again.
"If you ever need any assistance with the little one, you can always call me," he said, handing me a business card. "if your husband doesn't mind, that is."
Like I'm going to let some guy I just met touch my beautiful little baby. Especially a Taisho. I just shook my head, though. "I'm not married. But thank you."
He gave me a small smile and nod before heading back into the house as I did the same to mine. I guess he wasn't that bad.
I went up to Rin's crib and pulled her tiny little body out, comforting her as best I could. Rubbing her back and humming the soft little lullaby my mom sang to me as a kid seemed to do it for her because she fell back to sleep soon after. I placed her back in the little white crib and went to close the window when I saw Sesshoumaru talking to another adult in the house. He saw me and nodded as I gave him a small wave back before closing the window and dropping the blinds.
Friday night, I'm feeling (and looking) worse than shit, and I have some guy -some pretty damn hott guy- giving me his number and offering to take care of my sick baby. That Taisho family is really weird.
And guess what! Two night later, its nearly fucking 4 a.m. in the morning, I have work in a few hours, my baby's still trying to get better, and they're still playing their damn music! Why me?
If they never moved here, I'd be the happiest single loser on this block.
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Oh man, my characters are so OOC. Hahaha
rate and review please
...i just want to know what you think...
-VG-