child care mishap by sesskagtrueluv

Tramatic 1st day

"Where's my daddy?"

Good question, thought Kagome, pushing her bangs to the side of her face and glancing again at the large clock on the wall. Closing time for Happy Tots Preschool had come and gone a good hour ago.

"I'm sure he'll be here soon, Rin. Would you like a snack?"

The little girl shook her head, her long dark hair flying all over the place. Her lower lip trembled. "I want my daddy."

Kagome knelt and put her arm around the four-year-old. It was the child's first day at the preschool, and Kagome knew it had been a long one. She searched for a way to divert her for a little while longer. "I'll bet he's on his way, honey. Why don't we make a surprise for him?"

"What kinda surprise?"

"A collage."

"What's a 'lage?"

"A picture made from other pictures. We'll find photos of things you did today and glue them on a piece of paper. That way your dad can see what you did at school."

Rin regarded her thoughtfully, wavering between tears and agreement. She finally nodded. "Okay."

With a sigh of relief, Kagome rounded up the necessary supplies and settled the child in the art center. She'd just put a CD of Raffi in the CD player and made sure Rin knew how to safely use a pair of blunt-tipped scissors when the chimes on the front door jangled.

Kagome looked up, expecting to see the tall, muscular business man who had registered his little girl that morning. Instead she saw the medium height, well toned figure of her best friend and business partner Sango Monk.

Kagome followed her friend into the kitchen alcove, out of the child's earshot. "It's your day off. What are you doing here?"

"I was about to ask you the same question," Sango replied with a pointed glance at the clock. "I saw you car still parked out front and decided to stop in and see why you're missing the community volunteer meeting." Sango shook her head disapprovingly. "You'll never meet any eligible men spending all your time here, Kagome."

Kagome drew a deep breath. Sango was constantly pestering her about meeting men, and the topic was growing tiresome. She means well, Kagome reminded herself, smoothing a strand of hair away from her face and adjusting one of her two barrettes. Sango's own two-year marriage was nothing short of blissful, and she only wanted Kagome to find the same kind of happiness.

But Kagome didn't share the other woman's optimism about her chances. She had a pretty good idea of what most men were looking for in a woman, and her mirror told her she didn't have it. She'd been forced to face the truth a long time ago: she was as plain as unbuttered toast. And the fact that she usually got tongue-tied and red-faced when she tried to make a good impression didn't help matters, either. She had no more idea how to flirt than how to fly.

Besides, Edo, Japan was not exactly teeming with men who were husband material. With a population just shy of six thousand, it wasn't exactly teaming, period especially with single men in her middle twenty age category.

All the same, she'd agreed to take Sango's advice and go to tonight's meeting about volunteer opportunities. She didn't have any hopes of meeting Mr. Right, but she wanted to find a worthwhile activity to fill her evenings and weekends. She was always at her happiest when she was doing something useful, and the little favors she loved doing for her friends and neighbors still left her with too much free time on her hands. She'd been spending most of her free time alone ever since her grandmother had died a year ago, and it was getting lonesome.

But her personal situation was not what concerned her now. She inclined her head toward the child in the next room. "We have a new student. Her father was supposed to pick her up at five, and he still hasn't shown up. I'm starting to get worried."

Sango's brow furrowed in a frown. "Did he leave the name and number of someone else to call in case of emergency?"

Kagome picked up the information card the father had filled out that morning, then peered around the doorway to check on the child. The CD player was blaring a song about bubble gum, but Kagome spoke in low tones all the same. "No. He said he'd just moved to town and didn't know anyone here yet. He's a single father. He just bought the old Tishie estate."

"You've tried his home number?"

"About a dozen times, and every time I've left a message on his machine."

"What's his name?"

"Sesshomaru Tashio."

"I'll check with the hospital, then call the police," Sango said decisively.

"No, don't call the police! They'll take the girl into custody, contact the child-welfare officials and scare the poor child to death."

"It's nearly seven-thirty. We've got to do something."

Kagome glanced at Rin, who was cutting a picture out of a magazine, her mouth puckered in concentration. She couldn't bring herself to turn the little girl over to the authorities. She would end up being questioned and processed and shuffled around for half the night. Kagome's brow creased in worry. "Maybe the father's sick. Or hurt."

"Or guilty of serious child neglect. Maybe even abandonment."

"Oh no! I'm certain it's nothing like that." Sango shook her head. "You never want to believe anything bad about anyone, Kagome, but believe me, it happens. We just don't see much of it in Edo."

"Thank heavens," Kagome murmured. Sango had worked in a preschool for underprivileged children in Tokyo, and Kagome knew she'd seen some heartbreaking situations-situations that Kagome could hardly imagine, situations that brought tears to her eyes just to hear about.

"We don't know anything about this man," Sango continued. "We don't even know whether he really lives here or not. For that matter, we don't actually know if this child is even his daughter."

"Oh I'm sure it's his child," Kagome insisted. "They've got exactly the same eyes. And I'm certain it was his voice on the answering machine." It was a distinctive voice deep low and masculine, with just a hint of a western accent.

"What does this guy look like, anyway?"

My idea of heaven. Kagome bit back the response. This was not the time to tell her friend how the man affected her when he'd registered his daughter this morning-how his golden eyes had made her knees melt like ice cream in the summer sun, how his voice had soaked right through her skin, and how the kiss he'd planted on Rin's cheek as he'd said goodbye had been tender enough to bring tears to her eyes. If she mentioned her reaction to Sango, the older woman would start concocting matchmaking schemes.

And the business man was definitely not her type. Not that she had a type, Kagome mentally amended. But if she did, he definitely wouldn't be it.

For starters, he was entirely too good-looking. In her experience, handsome men usually had a case of arrested character development. It probably wasn't even their fault that they tended to be shallow and vain and superficial, she thought; most likely it was just natural for them to value the things that had always been valued in them.

Anyway, even if a handsome man turned out to be a halfway-decent individual, the fact remained that good-looking men attracted good-looking women, and Kagome knew better than to try to compete in the looks department. She'd discovered as a teenager that beauty was a commodity, like money. The world was divided into haves and have-nots, and she's learned the hard way where she fell in the spectrum. Like a house or car she couldn't afford, there was no point in pining for someone beyond her means.

Besides, Sesshomaru Tashio had been so absorbed in his daughter this morning that he hadn't seemed to notice her at all, and Kagome had an ironclad rule she'd vowed never to break: never, ever, would she allow herself to show even the slightest bit of interest in a man who hadn't first shown an unmistakable interest in her. Never, ever-not in a million years, would she make a fool of herself over a man.

Never again, anyway.

"So what's he like?" Sango persisted.

Kagome gave a noncommittal shrug. "Tall. Pail skinned. Long silver silky looking hair. Gold eyes. Not to mention he's a demon." She peered around the doorway to check on the little girl again. "He really seemed to love the child, Sango. And Rin seems crazy about him."

"They always are, Kagome. Even kids with horrible parents are usually attached to them.

Sango was right, Kagome conceded. Just because Sesshomaru Tashio looked nice didn't mean he was. She, of all people, should know that appearances could be deceiving.

But whether he was an ideal parent or an irresponsible lout didn't change anything. Kagome had always had a soft spot in her heart for children, but Rin had found the marshmallow center. There was a wistfulness, a seriousness, an eagerness for affection in the little girl that Kagome found endearing, and she was determined to exhaust every alternative before she caused the child ant unnecessary anguish.

"Let's give the father the benefit of the doubt," Kagome cajoled. "I'd appreciate it if you'd check with the hospital. If he's not there, maybe you can stay with the child while I drive out to their house."

Sango clucked disapprovingly. "You shouldn't go out there alone, Kagome. It's not safe. Why, he might be drunk or crazy or involved in some sort of illegal activity...." She shook her head. "Sometimes you're just too nice for your own good."

"I'll be fine. Can you watch the child, or do I need to call Yuka?" Kagome asked, naming one of their assistants.

Sango sighed. "I'll stay. But I don't think it's a good idea for you to go alone. Sango paused and looked up hopefully. "Why don't you ask Hojo to go with you?"

Kagome grimaced. Hojo was a perfectly nice man if you liked men who were dumb as dirt, annoying as a swarm of mosquitoes, and had breath like rotten milk. He'd been pestering Kagome to go out with him ever since she'd moved to Edo, and she'd done everything in her power to discourage him. Calling him now would only make him redouble his efforts.

It was a sad commentary on the state of her life that Hojo was the only man either one of them could think to call. Sango's get-out-there-and-mingle advice might not be so far off base, after all. Kagome wasn't likely to meet a mate, but it wouldn't hurt to widen her circle of friends.

"I'll be fine," she repeated, ducking out of the kitchen to check on the child. "Besides" Kagome yelled back "if anything happens I will just use my miko powers."

As Kagome approached, Rin looked up, her eyes dark and somber. Her lashes were long enough to cast shadows on her chubby cheeks. "Do you think Daddy's gone to be with mommy?"

Kagome's eyebrows flew up in surprise. This was one possibility that hadn't occurred to her. "Why, I don't know, honey. Where's your mommy?"

"In heaven. Daddy says she's the most bootiful angel there."

A lump formed in Kagome's throat like a bowling ball.

"Mommy was a booty queen. She had a crown and ever 'thin'. Daddy says she was the prettiest girl ever."

"Then she must have looked a lot like you." Kagome said softly, meaning it. With her cherubic face, Cupid's-bow mouth and coal black hair, Rin looked like she belonged on the cover of a valentine's card.

"I think you're pretty, too, Miz Kagome," she said solemnly.

Kagome knelt down and clasped the child in a tight hug, the lump in her throat growing larger. "Thank you, Rin."

One of the wonderful things about young children was the way they confused kindness with beauty, she thought. She was fairly certain no one over the age of ten would ever call her pretty. Her face was a little too heart shaped for her liking, her hair was long and had natural wave to it that no matter how hard she'd try wouldn't straighten out and it was so black it started to look blue, her features just somehow seemed to moss the mark by her standards. On the plus side, she had good teeth, her skin was smooth and clear, and her ears lay nice and flat against her head.

Hardly the assets to put her in the same league as a beauty queen. Kagome thought wryly.

"So do you think Daddy's with Mommy?" Rin Asked.

A surge of protectiveness toward the girl suddenly filled Kagome's chest, along with a flash of anger at her father. He had better have one heck of a good excuse for worrying his child like this.

She reined in her emotions and forced a smile. "I'll tell you what I think. I think your dad be here really soon. He probably had car trouble or some other little problem, and I'm sure he'll be here as soon as he gets it worked out." She forced brightness into her voice that she didn't feel and gave the little girl another squeeze. "Come on why don't you show me what you've cut out for your collage? We'll glue it together. Then I'll introduce you to my friend Sango and you can help me make some peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches. I'm hungry, and I'll bet you are too.

Forty-five minutes later, Kagome turned her Toyota onto the crushed stone road the led to the Tishie estate. Her head lights beamed on the inauspicious entrance-a large metal gate with a large letter T in a circle, swinging overhead.

Sesshomaru Tashio wouldn't even need to change the sign Kagome mused. She wondered if the rest of the place was as well-suited to the man as the sign.

But it was really none of her business, she chided herself. She was here to see if he was in any kind of trouble, not checking out his house.

Her tires crunched on the crushed stone as she drove slowly through the entrance, her lack of speed caused as much by her lack of plan as well as the rough condition of the road. Overhead, a crescent moon glistened in the late-May sky. How the heck did she expect to find anything, much less anyone, at night? Her self-confidence wavered. Maybe Sango was right; maybe she was on a fool's errand, a wild goose chase, or worse.

Her mind drifted back to the small girl she'd left asleep on a cot at the preschool with Sango, and she tightened her grip on the steering wheel, simultaneously tightening her resolve.

A large, dark house loomed into view as her car topped a hill. Not a single light shone on the porch or in any of the windows, but a SUV was parked in the driveway. Kagome pulled up behind it, switched off the engine, and climbed out. The sound of the slamming car door reverberated in the quite night.

"Mr. Tashio?" she called out. The rhythmic chirp of crickets in the cheery trees on the lawn was the only response she heard.

With Sango's dire warnings replaying in her mind, Kagome screwed up her courage and mounted the steps to the large three-story mansion and knocked. No answer response.

She hesitantly tried the door, and her pulse quickened when she found it unlocked. Perhaps he'd been injured – tripped on the stairs or slipped in the shower or been hurt in some such scenario. From the first-aid training she'd taken to secure her preschool license, she knew it was a fact that most accidents happened at home.

All the same, it was hard to imagine the tall, muscular demon she'd met this morning stumbling or falling. He'd looked strong and powerful and more than adequately coordinated. It was far easier to picture him stark naked, his pale muscles gleaming in the candlelight as he swept her off her feet and carried her to a massive bed draped in dark silk sheets....

Heat scorched her cheeks. Where on earth had that thought come from? Oh great heavens, she chided herself, clutching her throat; she must be more rattled by this situation than she realized. It was unlike her to indulge in steamy romantic fantasies; especially about she'd just met. Someone who was clearly out of her league. Someone who was the parent of one of her students, for heavens sake!

She drew a deep breath, forced the disturbingly erotic image out of her mind and steeled her nerves. "Mr. Tashio?" she called again, pushing the door open.

AN: dun dun dun what well happen next? Well hoped you liked my first chapter ever of my first fanfiction ever. Well I decided not to start writing these until summer time and well for me summer time has just started today yay! Well I hope to get this fic done soon because I'm leaving on the 16th of June and I won't be back until the 10th of august . But hey I'm not one to pass up kayaking down a white water river and going on a cruse but we will have to see how well you people like it if I am to continue writing or not for this fic give me your thoughts/feelings and suggestions I love suggestions peace, love& goldfish your author Sesskagtrueluv