The Orchid Garden by nb

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The Orchid Garden

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Kagome was a wonderful girl. Bright and shiny, she somehow managed to bring out the best in people.

But she was not what you would call a decent girl, or a respectable girl.

She was, if you were so unromantic as to label her as you would a bottle of mayonnaise, a whore.

"Hey, Jasmine!"

Kagome had just finished fixing her makeup and rearranging the ultra-expensive orchids one *special* secret admirer had sent her, when the loud knocking had began.

She didn't like orchids, as a rule. But these were special. They were white. Or you might say, almost white. They were soothing, with a faint lavender hue which was barely discernable to the human eye. But the reason 'Jasmine' had chosen these flowers for the main entrance, just like she had been doing ever since the orchids had begun to come, was because of their blood-red hearts, bleeding crimson. They caught her eye, as a bold red rose would.

'I wish that everyone could be so romantic, so...'

Jasmine glanced at the pristine, eye-blindingly white roses Kouga had sent her. She had set them in the bathroom, which was a pure gold-and-pink-marble affair, with various pelts of wild game serving as footmats and bathrobes. Most of these were also courtesies from Kouga, who loved to lavish Kagome with whatever he came across, whether it be wild game from a quick hunt in Africa, or exotic perfumes from the Far East and absurdly expensive hautede couture.

It was a habit long-instilled in him from childhood, when he was still her big brother. Currently the 'young master' of the house, he, too, had been adopted by the dear Inutaisho, like Jasmine. It had been Inutaisho who had named Kagome Jasmine. According to him, Kagome's 'Ka' could also be read as 'fragrance' in certain languages. Hence, Kagome's name as a courtesan was to be Jasmine, as she had been informed at the precious age of 5. Anyhow, Inutaisho had gathered first Kagome, then Kouga into his home from god knows where. Kouga was to take over the 'Gekka' in due time, a whore house that was both one of the most prestigous and the most magnificent, and bizarre, if you would listen to the critics. Kagome was to...

Well, to tell the truth, she had no idea. She knew that something was planned for her.

The problem was, Inutaiso was never too clear on the subject, and Kouga was no better. Whenever Kagome questioned him on the subject, he would get terribly upset, and the whole fiasco he would cause usually ended with him hugging her so hard that she couldn't breath, with a whispered reassurance that he would always take care of her.

With a small sigh, Kagome took a delicate whiff of the orchids.

'Time to go'

She liked Kouga, make no mistake. She was very fond of him. He was her protector in its every meaning, and he was gentleman enough to pay for everything, even though he wasn't expected to. Still...

'If only Mr. Bleeding Hearts were a regular patron, like him'

But another quick look at the flowers still sitting in the far end of the entrance hall immediately quenched such thoughts. Another one of her more, passionate patrons, Onigumo Naraku was not what you would call 'a man of good taste'. This time he had sent tiger lilies with some 'entities' that she could hardly call flowers. Their color alone, a *lovely*brick red was enough to put anybody off their dinner. They were also huge, ugly, and obnoxious. Naraku was a good guy, she kinda liked him, so she HAD to save a place for his flowers to show that he was one of her favored 'guests'. But that didn't stop her from hating the terrible flowers. And hiding them away. She couldn't help shuddering every time she thought of the ones he had sent her once on Halloween. That was one of the rare times that he had sent normal flowers...

In the ugliest forms imaginable. The color scheme had been alright. Orange, red and white with a splash of browns and blacks. The flowers had been alright. Roses, garbellas, baby's breaths, carnations... No ugly objects that seemed to have been brought from the other side of someone's grave. But they had been squashed, molded, and trimmed into pumpkins and witches that reached the ceiling, with BIG, SMILEY faces. That had almost stumped her.

But Jasmine was not the best courtesan, hand-picked by Inutaisho himself to be bested by a simple bunch of florwes, however big.

That day, Jasmine ordered 300 candles for lighting her chambers 5 minutes before Gekka's opening.

300 candles?!

Yes. 300 candles. This was absolutely necessary. Jasmine's chambers took up most of the top floors (5 stories, to be exact) of Gekka, and would easily have fit in 3 small villages. Of course, 300 hundred candles were a feat that only the best men could have accomplished. But then, only the best were allowed to serve in the top quarters of Gekka. And of course, the fact that the courtesan living in the top quarters of Gekka was a long time favorite of the elite customers, also insured the quick execution of her orders. You should also bear in mind that most of the serving population in Gekka were extremely sympathetic with Jasmine. They were not dealing with some half-wit who just wanted something frivolously romantic. This was their dear Jasmine-sama, their little angel, dealing with a reincarnation from hell which came in the shape of obnoxious, pumpkin shaped flowers.

Out of the three visitors Jasmine entertained that night, only Spiderman noticed the flowers, due to some stragetically placed candles set in place 5 seconds before his entrance.

'Okay Kagome, calm down.

Naraku's out of the country for the next few months, so no more traumatic flowers.

This is Kouga.

He has just come back from the rougher parts of town, so YOU'RE supposed to be the one who lends a soothing hand.

You are NOT supposed to get stressed out over a bunch of flowers.'

'Take a deep breath...

open the door,

and say

"Hi, Kouga! I'm sorry to have kept you waiting. I was jus..."

Before she could go on, she was engulfed in a big, Kouga-sized bear hug.

She couldn't help smiling, he was SO cute!

"Tell you what, Kouga-kun.

I've got this nice, warm bath running for you. So why don't you get in, close your eyes and wait for me while I get some massaging oil for you, okay?"

"I'd love that,"

Kouga crinkled his eyebrows in a smile that was distincively Kouga-ish.

"but I've got a little present for you first!"

"Oh, and what would that be?"

Kagome couldn't help acting a little coy. Both Kagome and Kouga knew that he was over-doing the whole 'I've got a present for you' thing, but it was fun.

Hi, this is nB.

I will be updating (the Orchid Garden and my other stories) as much as I can, so please bear with me.

Thank you all for reading!

And thank you, the people who've been giving me such good ratings for 'Damnit!' and 'the Orchid Garden'!

Yours,

nB