InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Never-Ending Love ❯ Chapter 18
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: DragonGrl 
Healing hearts and new beginnigs... new friendships and frightful events.
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai / Drama | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 04.08.2007 | Updated On: 04.08.2007 | Pages: 5 | Words: 8.3K | Visits: 372 | Status: Work In Progress
Healing hearts and new beginnigs... new friendships and frightful events.
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai / Drama | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 04.08.2007 | Updated On: 04.08.2007 | Pages: 5 | Words: 8.3K | Visits: 372 | Status: Work In Progress
It's been sooo long! Sorry ~_~ I just lost inspiration for a while and wasn't able to write but I'm back again ^_^ Not much more to say...
Although, here's the new chapter. We meet a new character ^_^ I won't say how or who or I'll spoil it ~_^ As for Rin, don't worry. She'll be maturing pretty soon, somtimes we need scary awakenings to realize that we've never really matured. Well I'll stop babbling and on to the story....
Enjoy...
Disclaimer: I don’t own any of the InuYasha characters they belong to Rumiko Takahashi.
‘___’ Thought expressions
“Italic” Whisper expressions
As I cried, all I was able to see was the look on Sesshomaru’s face before I walked away from him, leaving him forever. I kept picturing his cheerful face filled with sorrow which fueled my painful crying to more violent, choking sobs, but what made it worse was knowing that regret filled his heart. All I could remember is seeing his beautiful face appear in front of me and I reached out to it before everything went dark. My mind floated away to a world where I was away from everything and everyone and I felt myself bask in the feeling of tranquility. At that moment, I truly felt at peace. Although, it was sad to think that being at the brink of death was the only way to enjoy it and not in life. Yet what saddened me the most was the fact that I had to pay penance for something that I didn’t know. I didn’t want to suffer anymore, my spirit, as strong as it may seem was beginning to break and who knows what would happen if that day ever arrived. Honestly, I hoped and prayed that it would never come and that I would be able to continue my life without him.
As for Sesshomaru, he left on his honeymoon the next day but I could imagine the vacation he was going to have. Ayame told me that she’d found him completely heartbroken when she entered the study after I’d left. She said that he quickly stood from where he was sitting and faced the door, thinking that I might’ve come back. Yet she saw the heartbreak clear in his eyes when he realized that it wasn’t me. That’s when he told her what happened and started to cry. He cried in Ayame’s arms, something he never did in front of anyone, not even me. That was the first day I ever saw him cry, all the other times, he was always trying to console me but never cried. That’s why it took Ayame so long to find me because she was busy consoling him. Eventually he calmed and left to live his now unhappy life because he couldn’t be with me. According to Ayame, that wasn’t the first time she’d seen him cry. After my “death”, he began to -really-trust her and started to show his real emotions to her. The day when they’d heard the news of the accident and when they were sure I’d been a part of it, she said that he was inconsolable. He spoke to no one and spent the entire time cursing Koga for ever existing and cursing God for taking me away from him. When the shock passed, he calmed but went through a dramatic change in a very short time. His personality changed completely; he started keeping to himself a lot, he wasn’t as expressive as he used to and indulged himself in as much work as possible, trying to stay away from the real world. Nothing mattered to him anymore and that’s why he agreed to go on with his family’s tradition by agreeing to marry Kagura at his father decision. At first he hated Kagura, despised her but as time passed and plans were being made, he got used to her but didn’t love her. He never could, his heart belonged to me no matter where I was and he would give it to no one until the day we would eventually meet again.
As Ayame was telling me, I felt like I was going to cry but I just couldn’t anymore. My body wouldn’t allow me to; I had no more tears left. Yet every night as I slept, they silently rolled down my cheeks as I dreamed of what I couldn’t have. As days passed, it started to calm and my body and soul began to heal up again. I started to try and live my life again by going out with Kagome and Sango, chatting with Ayame or hanging around with the gang. My heart slowly healed from the deep wound it had. It was funny though, at first the couples would try to avoid doing couple things in front of me, I guess they were afraid that I would go into another crying outbreak. I slowly started getting used to it and asked them not to change how they acted because of me. I mean yes it did hurt but I just had to get over it and very slowly started to although it was very hard.
Sesshomaru was scheduled to return in about a month and that’s when I was going to leave. I don’t think I could’ve handled seeing him again any time soon, my strength was far from being recovered. About a week before he was going to come back, I called Yuka and told her everything that happened. She obviously felt sorry for me but I just didn’t want anyone’s pity anymore. I asked her to look around and find me a place to live over there, even though she offered to keep me with her at her house. I didn’t want to become a burden to her so I refused. After many attempts, I finally convinced her and she found me a really nice apartment near downtown New York. Once everything was set up for my new place, I had all my things shipped to the new apartment and a day before Sesshomaru was going to arrive, I decided to leave. Everyone tried to convince me to stay but I just couldn’t, I wasn’t ready yet. I needed time, time to heal and staying there was not going to help. But to ease their worries or at least trying to, I left them with ALL of my information; my new address, cell phone number, house number and even Yuka’s house number just in case they wanted to get in contact with me, they could.
So I left California and went to live to New York. Living in the city was amazing but not as much as living out in the countryside where I did before. Yuka and I still remained close, either I would visit her or she would visit me. We would hang out together and go out to places, just trying to have fun and keep myself busy. I would constantly keep in contact with everyone, especially with Ayame and Kagome. It was funny though, I always had to call Kagome at exactly the time we’d arranged otherwise she would have a fit. She would start yelling at me on the phone, scolding me for not calling her on time. I, on the other hand, would just laugh on the other side of the phone but I understood her for being worried. I was EXTREMELY far away from her and she wanted to avoid what happened the first time to happen again. She always wanted me to keep her up to date on what I would do, which was hardly anything. I really wouldn’t do much anyway, just the few times I would go out with Yuka but it never was anything special. I would just sit in my loft, looking over the view of the city from the window, read or stargaze. I was never able to stop, there was always that little spark of hope in my heart that wished he was looking up at the sky at the same time I was, making him feel closer than ever. I had those feelings often and those slight moments were the ones that helped me to keep going, showing that he never forgot about me.
I remained that way for about 3 months, alone and mostly locked in my place but then I just began to get tired. I started getting bored more often and didn’t want to just be at home anymore so I decided to find myself a job to distract me. I figured it was about time that I put my master’s degree to good use, so I went job hunting near by and actually found a job pretty quickly. I think it was because of my father’s legacy in the world of business but I could’ve been wrong. It was funny to think that I got a job in the building that I would always admire from my place, the view of the city from where I lived was just breathtaking. Obviously, I was very well known there because of my involvement with Sesshomaru too but I don’t think that was the reason I got hired, at least back then. I didn’t get a grand position and didn’t want one either so I became the assistant to the trade department’s manager at Kagewaki Industries. I met a lot of new people there and made some new friends as well. Jakotsu, Bankotsu, Shippo and I became really close. They worked in the same floor as I did and they were just hilarious.
Jakotsu and Bankotsu were very sweet and VERY good-looking. They’d been working there for about two years and helped a lot when it came to getting to know the place. They were in charge of answering the phones of our department well they were the operators. Although, the day I found out that they were a couple, I seriously could not believe that they were gay. What a loss to us women but I guess they were too good to be true to begin with. Even though, they were very nice and I was happy that they were together. Jakotsu on the other hand, he pissed me off many times, flirting with whatever had a dick between its legs and stepped in front of him. Poor Bankotsu, I would feel so sorry for him because Jak would even do it in front of him. I don’t know how Ban did it but I guess he learned to deal with it and his love for Jak kept him at his side. Jakotsu was also very talkative; he would hardly ever shut up. Yet, it was funny hearing him ramble sometimes. Bankotsu was completely the opposite though, he was fairly quiet but it was very easy to start a conversation with him. I guess that’s why they were so good together because they complemented each other.
Shippo was about my age and a very intelligent guy. He was also very sweet, shy, funny and loved to please others, oh and he is a very cute redhead too. He always blushed when I told him that. He had been working there for about a year; he had to make sure all the paperwork was ready for Naraku to look at it. Shippo was a VERY hard worker and very dedicated to his job as well. He always dreamed of owning his own business but lacked the financial backing to open one. He had some really good ideas too but working for Naraku and trying to become competition at the same was definitely NOT a good mix. So he planned on working there until he saved enough to start his investment and quit. He had been single ever since he started working there, the hours just sucked -especially- for him since everything HAD to be perfect. Naraku was just picky and an ass like that. So he spent most of his time working and didn’t have the time to date. He would make a girl very happy someday and lucky she would be to have someone like him.
My life started to change ever since I met Jak, Ban and Shippo. We would go out together, hang out or they would just come over and keep me company. We’d have a blast and Yuka would join us on occasions too. I swear Shippo had a crush on Yuka because he would always ask if she was going with us but when we would ask him about it, he’d deny it, blushing of course. So we just let him be, we didn’t want to force anything to happen and make it a disaster. I told them my life’s story one day, since we’d decided to share our stories with each other and I left them at the brink of tears when I was done. Except for Jak, he just full out cried because he was very sensitive, well when he wanted to be. Although, I just couldn’t cry anymore and I wasn’t sure why. When I was re-telling them, my heart felt as if it twisted and my chest would tighten at times but no tears would ever come out. It did hurt having to remember everything again since I’d tried to forget that part of my life, yet the support they gave me helped lighten the pain. After some time, they convinced me to date again since they’d been bugging me for quite sometime. They supported their advice by using the saying ‘that the best way to get over the last one is with the next one’. Although I refused at first, I just couldn’t imagine myself with anyone but Sesshomaru. Until I finally realized that they were right so I went ahead and gave it a shot but mostly I did it to get them off my back. So I did go out on a number of dates with different people but they never worked out. None of them had what I wanted, none of them compared in the least to Sesshomaru and in the end, none of them were he. Eventually, I just gave up and decided to let fate and time take its course even if it meant staying alone for the rest of my days.
So for the next 3 months, my life was good. I had my job, which was a bit hectic but it kept me busy, good friends to talk to and a wonderful city to enjoy. I even got to meet Naraku in person; most of his employees didn’t know how he looked like. For some reason, I got to work him very often. My boss would ask me to take him papers or Naraku would personally ask for me. I didn’t really mind but it just seemed weird and I didn’t let it bother me. I’m sure I’ve mentioned before that Naraku was an extreme perfectionist. Anything turned into him HAD to be perfect otherwise he wouldn’t even look at it. He was an ass to all of his employees and yes that did include me. Although his looks said completely the opposite, he was VERY good looking. He honestly did NOT look his age, which I would say he was probably in his mid 40’s. Time was VERY good to him, yet he did seem familiar in a way, as if I’ve seen him somewhere before but I was never able to pinpoint where exactly. His black hair, light skin and intense dark eyes were mesmerizing. His face had an innocent look to it but when he was angry, his eyes shot daggers. He had the most deadly look to him that I didn’t blame everyone for being afraid of him.
I especially fell sorry for his assistant, Onigumo. Now he REALLY got to witness Naraku’s full rage since it was always thrown at him. Poor thing had to withstand the abuse Naraku would throw at him but yet he was always there. He had been working with him ever since Naraku started his business. Yet he was a very nice guy.
Although towards the end, I started to notice a change in Naraku’s behavior towards me. He started acting nicer and always insisted that I be the one to deliver his paperwork. In some occasions, he would complement me on my looks or the way I was dressed. Keep in mind since it was a professional company, I was always dressed in suits. But I had all my suits custom made to accentuate my figure yet keep the look professional. So I guess they served their purpose but unfortunately, it was with the WRONG person…
I was having my breakfast and reading the newspaper before it was time to head to work. I did see Sesshomaru in the paper occasionally and my heart would flutter every time but as time went on, I learned to just glance and read on since it was all I could do. I had just finished my meal and sat back on the chair, sipping my coffee and reading an article on the front page as my cell phone started to ring. Since my purse was next to me, I reached out and pulled my phone, opening it to answer.
“Hello,”
“Hey there stranger, how come you haven’t called?”
“Kagome, hey how are you? Sorry I’ve just been really busy at work.”
She teased, “Excuses excuses. Come on, if we’re not good enough for you anymore just tell me right now.”
I started to laugh, “Whatever Slim, you know that’s not true.”
Angry, “DAMN IT RIN, HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU NOT TO CALL ME THAT!”
I just couldn’t hold back and started laughing harder, “All right, all right, I’ll stop.”
“Good, so how you’ve been? I haven’t talked to you in a while.”
I giggled, “It hasn’t been that long Kagome. I talked to you what, like a week ago?”
“Yeah but a lot of things can happen in a week. How’s your job going so far?”
I just smiled and shook my head; “I’m doing well. I’ve been pretty busy lately trying to finish up some reports that my boss gave me to do but otherwise it’s ok.”
“Well that’s good. So is Naraku still being an ass to you?”
“He’s an ass to everyone but lately, he’s been… nicer… well, to me at least, for some reason.”
Worried, “I don’t know Rin but you’ve got to be careful, I don’t trust him.”
I giggled, “I know, I will don’t worry. Now enough about me… how’s everyone doing?”
“Good. Actually, Kohaku and Kanna are living together now.”
Surprised, “Really, wow that’s great. It’s about time those two moved on, they’re so cute together too.”
“Yeah, I’m sure we’ll be getting news that they’re going to get married soon.”
“I hope so. How’s Sango and Miroku?”
“Still together as always, just working a lot though. They want to save up money for their trip. Did Ayame tell you about that?”
“Yeah she did when I talked to her yesterday. I’m glad those two are getting along well. How about you and Inuyasha?”
“We’re ok, although we don’t get to see each other often. I’m always at the office and he’s working so we get to see each other at night but only for a little while. I guess you could say that in a way it’s helping our relationship.”
At that moment, I got flashbacks of when Sess and I were like them, which pulled at my still healing heart. Although, I remained silent and I never realized that Kagome had stopped talking. I guess when I didn’t respond to her, she must’ve thought that the call had gotten disconnected.
“Hello, Rin… are you still there?”
“Yeah…”
Worried, “Hey, are you ok?”
Sadly, “… How is he?”
She sighed; sadly, “Do you really want me to answer?”
I stared blankly out the window as I slightly shook my head, “I… I don’t know…”
She sighed again, “I’m not going to lie to you Rin but right now, it’s not going very well for him.”
Lightly, “Oh… is it because of her?”
“Part of it and I don’t need to tell you what the other part is, you know it very well.”
I sighed and closed my eyes, “Yeah, I know… I just hate that it’s not going well for him.”
“I know but something’s just can’t be helped. Don’t worry though, he’ll be ok. We’re still here for him; we won’t let anything happen to him, that I promise you.”
I curled my lips to a smile, “Thanks Kagome.”
Sounding more optimistic, “No prob. Oh, Inuyasha says Hi by the way.”
I giggled, “Tell him I said Hi.”
Yet I was able to hear her conversation in the background, “She says hi. WHAT? I’m not going to tell her that, believe me she doesn’t want to know”.
“Then I’ll tell her, here let me talk to her.”
“NOOOO, Inuyasha STOP! *Scuffling * LET GO OF THE PHONE!”
Meanwhile, I started to laugh at hearing their argument. Who knows what they were talking about but hearing them argue was very funny.
“DAMN IT, IT’S NOT LIKE IT’S THE END OF THE WORLD IF SHE FINDS OUT. She’ll find out sooner or later. DAMN YOU JUST LET GO!”
“NOT IF YOU DON’T TELL HER… ahhh * more scuffling sounds *”
Inuyasha, “Hello… Rin, you still there?”
Laughing, “Yes… How… could I pass up an opportunity to hear you two yelling at each other again?”
Sarcastically, “I’m glad we amuse you… anyway, did she tell you what we did the other day?”
Curious, “No, she didn’t. What was it?”
“We were kicking back in the living room watching movies when Ms. High and Mighty over here challenged me…”
I giggled, “Oh really, what was the challenge?”
He chuckled, “A burping contest.”
I was taking a sip of my coffee when I heard what he said and literally, spit it out laughing. Shocked, “A what? Kagome, do a burping contest… Oh, that’s just hilarious.”
He laughed, “Yeah and the sad part is… she beat me too.”
“INUYASHA, YOU’RE GOING TO PAY FOR THIS. GET OVER HERE…” I could tell they were running around by then because of the sound of the wind.
“Oh shit, now she’s chasing me around the yard. She’s pissed off now here… I’m going to give her back to you…”
Still laughing, “Ok…”
“HERE’S THE DAMN PHONE, STOP THROWING SHIT AT ME…”
Kagome, panting, “He’s lying… don’t believe him, he’s just saying that to get to me.”
“A burping contest huh? How sophisticated of you Kagome, I didn’t know you had it in you.” Then I started to laugh again.
Angry, “I DIDN’T DO IT DAMN IT… THAT’S GROSS AND I’M NOT LIKE THAT”
“LIAR…”
“SHUT UP, INUYASHA!”
“Well, I’d love to hear more about it but I’ve got to go now. I’ve got to head to work now.”
“All right, but I DIDN’T do it.”
I giggled, “All right, you didn’t. I’ll talk to you later ok…”
“Ok, take care bye.”
“Bye.” Then I clicked my phone off.
I looked up at the clock, “Shit, I barely have enough time to get to work.” Quickly I stood, grabbed my purse and headed to work.
I barely made it on time, thankfully there wasn’t much traffic through the route I took to work. So I headed up to the 32nd floor and started to work. I didn’t get to see anyone until after lunchtime when we got together at Shippo’s cubicle to have a little chat.
Jakotsu asked, “Rin, where you’ve been? I haven’t seen you at all morning.”
I giggled, “What you should be doing Jak, working.” Ban and Shippo started to laugh as Jak stuck his tongue out at me. “Actually, I’ve been running around everywhere over to payroll, accounting, to Naraku’s office. You know, the usual.”
Shippo chuckled, “Why go to the gym when you can get your workout here AND get paid for it.”
Laughing, “That’s true.”
Ban then asked, “But one thing is for certain, HOW can you stand working with Naraku in person? I mean, I don’t even know him and he gives me the chills.” Jak raised an eyebrow as Ban turned to look at him, raising his hands defensively, “not in a good way.”
I giggled, “Yeah, Jak he’s not a horn dog like you…” That time he just fully flipped me off and I started to laugh, “He’s actually not that bad…”
Shippo’s eyes widened, shocked, “Not THAT bad, he’s horrible. I can’t stand him even for the 5-second calls he gives me. Most of the time it’s telling me how bad my work is.”
I looked at him, “Well not to me… I don’t know but whom I REALLY feel sorry for is Onigumo. He takes all that crap that Naraku throws at him, I swear he really goes off on him. Poor guy but yet he still stays, I just don’t know how he does it.”
Jak added, “Well I think he likes him, that’s why takes all his shit.”
Ban, “Jak, you can’t say that. That might not be true, he’s probably just very dedicated to his job.”
Jak, “Bullshit, no matter how dedicated I am to my job, I wouldn’t let my boss yet at me how Naraku does to Onigumo.”
Suddenly Onigumo interrupted, lightly; “Did I just hear someone say my name?”
We all turned shocked towards the older man. He was well in his early 40’s but still fairly handsome. Smiling, I reached out and wrapped my arm around his and pulled him in to the little ‘meeting’, “Yeah, we were just talking about how can you withstand to work with Naraku? I mean, I work with him but not as must as you and he ALWAYS manages to get on my last nerve.”
Onigumo smiled and chuckled, “Well, I’ve known Naraku for a long time. We went to school together when we were younger and I’ve learned to look past the abuse. He’s really a nice guy when he wants to…” I swear you could see little hearts and stars flying around his head, as he was talking. We all just gave him a weird look as he pulled himself from me and turned to walk away, “Well, I’ve got to get back to work…”
We turned and looked at each other, nodding and saying at the same time, “Yep, he likes him.”
Suddenly, my boss yelled, “IMAMURA…”
I rolled my eyes, “Shit now what? Well, let me go see what he wants. I’ll be right back.” Then I turned to walk towards my boss’s office.
Jak nodded, “All right Rin.” Ban just nodded.
Shippo, “Ok.”
As I was walking into his office, “Yes Mr. Taka…” He glanced up and gave me an annoyed look, “I mean, Hakudoshi. Sorry, you called for me?” My boss, Hakudoshi hated people calling him by his last name. So he insisted that they call him by his given name. He wasn’t so bad but he did have an attitude problem sometimes, although his I could handle. No wonder why people said that he and Naraku could be related.
He looked up and nodded, “Yes, Naraku just called and asked for you. He wants you to go up to his office right away.”
Curious, “Did he say why or for what?”
He shook his head, “No, he just said that he wanted to see you. I don’t know what he wants.”
“Hmmm… I wonder. I guess I better go find out.”
He nodded, “Yes, I think it’d be wise not to make him wait, you know how he gets when he waits for too long.”
I shook my head, “Oh don’t remind me.” Opening the door, I heard Hakudoshi chuckle before I walked out of the office to find the gang still standing by Shippo’s desk.
Ban asked, “What happened?”
I slightly shook my head, “No, nothing. He just told me that Naraku called and asked for me. He wants to see me in his office.”
Jak, “Do you know for what?”
I shook my head, lightly, “I don’t know. Hakudoshi doesn’t know why either, Naraku didn’t tell him anything.” Somehow though, I started getting a bad feeling about that sudden meeting of his.
Shippo interrupted my thoughts, “What’s wrong Rin?”
“I don’t know but I’m getting a bad feeling about this.”
Jak started to rub my arm; “It’s going to be ok, just go and then tell us what happened.”
I nodded, “All right,” then turned and walked towards the elevator. As I was going to press the button to the top floor, I noticed that my hands were shaking a bit. ‘Shit why the hell am I shaking? Control Rin, Control.’ Finally I pushed the button and the elevator opened up to take me up to his office. When the doors opened, there was no one. Usually, Onigumo was working at the front desk but he was no where in sight. It seemed weird that he wasn’t there but I just stepped in anyway and walked up to the desk.
I pressed the page button on the phone and Naraku immediately answered, “What is it Onigumo?”
I cleared my throat, nervously, “Actually… It’s Ms. Imamura… You wanted to see me?”
His tone of voice suddenly changed, “Ah yes, come into my office.”
“All right.” I walked over and took a deep breath before I turned the knob and opened the door, stepping in. He was sitting on his chair, not removing his gaze from me as I walked up to his desk. The look in his eyes made me feel uncomfortable but I remained silent until I asked, “Yes, sir. What can I do for you?”
He curled his lips up to a smile and chuckled, something I had NEVER seen him do before which made the atmosphere feel even weirder. He turned and looked out his office window, “What can you do for me… hmmm… you’ve already done enough.”
His tone of voice gave me the creeps, “Sir?”
Looking out, “You’ve been working here for how long?”
‘I don’t know what that has to do with anything.’ “For about 3 months.”
“And how do you like the position you have?”
“I have no problem with it, I like it.”
I heard him chuckle again, “Good.” Then he turned towards me, his eyes bearing at me, “How would you like an office with a view like this?” as he pointed towards the window.
I walked over and looked out the window. WOW if the view from my house was amazing, that was absolutely INCREDIBLE. I gasped, “Oh my goodness, that’s beautiful.”
Then he walked right behind me and whispered in my ear, “Isn’t it?” before he walked over and sat on his desk. The feel of his breath on my neck gave me the chills of disgust. He sat there staring at me, examining my entire body from head to toe. When I felt his gaze upon me, I looked towards him, giving him a questionable look. He chuckled again, “You look…” as he stared at my legs longer than needed, “… absolutely enticing.” Then I noticed him licking his lips.
I didn’t know what to say, I just raised my eyebrow and looked at him as he stood and walked towards me, “What if I told you that there is a way for you to get a promotion?” I didn’t answer him, just stood still and followed him with my gaze as he spoke and stood behind me, speaking into my ear, “You know, you have a lot of -potential-” as he placed his hands on my waist and pulled me back against him.
THAT’s when everything went bad. I turned and slapped him, angry, “What the… What kind of girl do you think I am? I’m NOT the type that sleeps around to get to the top. I’d rather stay where I am thank you.” Then I turned and walked in the direction of the door. Suddenly, he stopped me and wrapped his arm my waist, pulling me towards him again. I screamed, “LET GO OF ME…” as I tried to pry his arm off.
He growled, “No but you do sleep with the ones that are already at the top, Kitazawa for example.”
I was fuming by then, “WHAT? My personal life is none of your business,” as I continued to try and loosen myself from his grasp.
He growled again and spoke into my ear, “Feisty aren’t you? I see why you drove Sesshomaru crazy.”
By then, I was digging my nails into his arm, trying to pry myself but he only kept tightening his hold on me, yelling, “DAMN YOU NARAKU, LET GO OF ME. YOU MAKE ME SICK.”
Then he groaned, “Bitch, you know you’re only turning me on more with your wriggling.” He pulled me against him again and that’s when I felt his bulge poke my lower back, a gasp of shock and fear escaping me as I stood still from the shock. Suddenly, he chuckled and I felt him lower his right hand down from my waist to my thigh. Unfortunately, that day I’d decided to wear a skirt and he started to slowly hike it up.
My eyes closed as I felt him running his hand on my thigh, tears welling up in my eyes as I prayed, ‘God PLEASE don’t let this happen, please stop this.’ I felt absolutely helpless because I wasn’t able to pry his arm off me, I just hoped that something would make him stop.
“Hmmm… you feel so good. You know Sesshomaru has good taste in women, I give you that. He’s not as stupid as I thought him to be. Unfortunately, he got to you first but now, it’s my turn to see with what you enchanted him.”
Tears started to scroll down my cheeks and my hands started to tremble as I felt him move his hand further up and back. Then he reached in and I felt him cup my right buttock in his hand. When I felt his hand squeeze at my behind, my eyes widened as my mind shouted, ‘GET OUT OF THERE, DO SOMETHING NOW!!!’ I just didn’t know what to do but at the moment, whatever it took to get him off me was enough. So I quickly lifted and bent my left arm while he was distracted and hit him -HARD- on his stomach with my elbow. It pushed all the air out of him and it made him finally release me. When I felt him let go, I walked as far away as possible as he clutched his arm to his stomach.
He painfully groaned and when he noticed me walking away from him he yelled, “Bitch, where the hell do you think you’re going?” as he leaned on his desk, still trying to regain his breath.
I’d walked to the door by then and held onto the knob, in case he tried to walk up to me again. That way I could just walk out and away from him. When I heard him yell, I stopped and turned towards him, opening the door and hearing Onigumo ask, “Is everything all right?”
I turned towards Onigumo and back to Naraku, who stood up and looked at me with hateful eyes, not moving from where he stood. Angry, “No it’s not ok. You know Naraku, you’re one sick BASTARD and I refuse to work for a man that thinks degrading women is right.”
I’m guessing because Onigumo was standing by the door Naraku didn’t run up to me again and who knows what he would’ve done. All he did was stand where he was and continued to look at me, “If you leave now, I WILL make sure NO ONE hires you anywhere else in this city. Is that what you want?”
I raised an eyebrow, “Oh really? And what reason will you give them? Because I refused to be your personal whore and hurt your pride?” I slightly shook my head and scoffed, “Naraku, if I were you, I’d just keep my mouth shut. You’d only cause you and your business more harm, it is a FEDERAL offense you know?”
He knew I was right and that was the SECOND wound to his pride, I was able to tell because I noticed him fisting his hands at his sides. He yelled angrily, “You… get the fuck out of my office and clean out your desk IMMEDIATELY.”
I shook my head, sternly; “You don’t have to fire me Naraku because I QUIT.” Then I turned and walked out of his office, slamming the door behind me. I felt horrible and my body was trembling from my efforts to hold back the tears that had already emerged.
As I started walking towards the elevator, Onigumo followed next to me, lightly, “What happened?”
I reached the elevator and pushed the down button. I lowered my head as I waited, sadly, “He… he tried… to take advantage of me.”
He sighed, sadly, “You too?”
My eyes widened and I looked up at him, shocked, “What do you mean ‘you too’? He’s done this before?”
He nodded and looked away, lowering his head in shame, “Yes, Naraku has a reputation for sleeping with his female employees, using them and then letting them go. I guess he tried to do that to you…” Then he looked up at me, “… but … it looks like you were one of the smart ones.”
I was shocked, I couldn’t believe that bastard got away with it. It just sickened me, even more to think that he wanted to sleep with me when he’s slept with who knows HOW MANY other women. I just looked away from him and shook my head, “I can’t believe he gets away with this.”
“Money and power can let anyone get away with many things and he has that. It’s just a shame that he uses it for evil instead of good. But don’t worry Rin, you’ll be all right, I can tell. You’re a strong young woman and someone like Naraku won’t be enough to bring you down.”
I looked towards him and found him with a warm smile. I curled my lips up to a smile, “Thank you Onigumo.” Suddenly, the elevator doors opened and I stepped in, turning to face the doors.
When they were closing, he said, “Take care Rin,” before they fully closed. As I was going back down to the floor where I work, I almost lost it. I was almost going to cry but I held back, I didn’t want to make a scene. When I reached the 32nd floor, my body started feeling cold. I walked out of the elevator and wrapped my arms around, trying to warm myself up.
I unconsciously made my way back to Shippo’s cubicle and when he caught sight of me, his eyes widened and he stood, shocked, “What the… Rin, what happened? Why are you pale?”
I had my head down, looking at the floor when I lifted it and looked at him, seeing his face full of worry. Although the moment I did, I couldn’t hold back the tears anymore and they started to scroll down my cheeks, “He… I…”
He came up to me and walked me over to his chair, lightly, “Hey, it’s ok. Here sit down, tell me what happened? Why did you come back like this?” He kneeled in front of me, resting his arms on my legs.
I looked at him and remained silent as I noticed Jak and Ban show up seconds later, asking the same questions. I glanced at them all, seeing all of them worried and started to cry a bit more, hating the fact that I was making them worry. I bent down and started to lightly sob into my hands, “He… tried to… take… advantage of me… but I… didn’t let him.”
“WHAT?” They all screamed at the same time and going off, cursing Naraku for what he tried to do.
Suddenly, I heard Hakudoshi’s voice call out, “WHAT is going on here?”
I lifted my hands to look at him, seeing him take a step forwards, looking at me, lightly, “What happened to you Rin? Why are you crying?”
I remained silent, feeling Shippo’s hand rub my back trying to console me when Jak answered the question for me, “She’s crying because that bastard Naraku tried to take her.”
He slightly glanced at him and back at me, “Is that true?”
I nodded and lowered my head, “Yes,” as I felt more tears start to fall.
Then Hakudoshi growled, “That bastard, when is he ever going to fucking stop?”
Ban asked, “What? So this isn’t the first time he’s tried to do this?”
I shook my head and answered, still not looking up, “No. Onigumo said that he’s done this many times before.”
Ban, angry, “What an asshole…”
Hakudoshi, “Rin, did he ask you to clear out?”
I nodded, “Yes.”
Shippo, shocked, “He fired you?”
Hakudoshi responded, “He always does that, whether they fall or not, they get fired. Shippo, help clear her desk and take her home. I will take care of whatever reports you have left.”
Shippo, “All right. Come on Rin, let’s get you out of here.”
I looked up at him and nodded, standing up to walk over and clear my things away. Once everything was packed, Shippo helped me carry them to his car and handed my car keys to Ban so they could drop it off at my place when they were off from work. Although, Shippo took me downtown to the police department to file a sexual harassment report against Naraku before he took me home. Even though he knew it wasn’t going to be of much use since he’s gotten away with more, it was still a good idea to keep it on record against him. So I gave my testimony and about an hour later, I was finally allowed to go home. During the drive to my place, I remained silent just stared blankly out the window. By then Shippo had heard EXACTLY what happened with Naraku and hated him even more. When we arrived to my place, he opened my door since he’d taken the house key out of my keys and let me walk in first.
He closed it behind him and walked next to me, placing his hands on my shoulders, lightly, “Go clean up and I’ll bring your things up, ok?” I just turned and looked at him, nodding before I made my way to my bathroom. Honestly, I felt filthy, dirty at the thought that Naraku’s hands were on me. So I undressed and went into the shower and vigorously scrubbed myself off. I started to cry again as I tried to take Naraku’s scent off me but it seemed like it wouldn’t, no matter how hard I tried. When I was done, I left my skin irritated and a bright red of how hard I scrubbed. I dried off and changed in whatever I had lying there, so I ended up wearing a T-shirt and sweatpants. When I got out of the shower, I walked out to the living room and found Shippo sitting on the couch, waiting for me. He remained silent as I walked over and sat next to him, leaning in to rest my head on his shoulder as he wrapped his right arm around me.
I remained silent, feeling him stroke my back lightly. I closed my eyes and Sesshomaru’s face suddenly appeared in front of me, making me start to lose control again. Lightly, “Shippo, I need him here,” as tears started to fall and my body started to tremble. He tightened his arm around me as I buried my face in his shoulder, not being able to hold back the sobs anymore, “I need him here with me…”
He wrapped his other arm around me and tightened them, holding me close to him as he leaned in, lightly, “I know.” He started rocking our bodies lightly in an effort to calm me.
I started to sob heavily and clutched tightly to him, sobbing, “Shippo, I want him with here with me…”
He placed his cheek on my forehead and nodded, still holding onto me and rocking our bodies as he whispered, “I know Rin… I know…”
Although, here's the new chapter. We meet a new character ^_^ I won't say how or who or I'll spoil it ~_^ As for Rin, don't worry. She'll be maturing pretty soon, somtimes we need scary awakenings to realize that we've never really matured. Well I'll stop babbling and on to the story....
Enjoy...
Disclaimer: I don’t own any of the InuYasha characters they belong to Rumiko Takahashi.
‘___’ Thought expressions
“Italic” Whisper expressions
As I cried, all I was able to see was the look on Sesshomaru’s face before I walked away from him, leaving him forever. I kept picturing his cheerful face filled with sorrow which fueled my painful crying to more violent, choking sobs, but what made it worse was knowing that regret filled his heart. All I could remember is seeing his beautiful face appear in front of me and I reached out to it before everything went dark. My mind floated away to a world where I was away from everything and everyone and I felt myself bask in the feeling of tranquility. At that moment, I truly felt at peace. Although, it was sad to think that being at the brink of death was the only way to enjoy it and not in life. Yet what saddened me the most was the fact that I had to pay penance for something that I didn’t know. I didn’t want to suffer anymore, my spirit, as strong as it may seem was beginning to break and who knows what would happen if that day ever arrived. Honestly, I hoped and prayed that it would never come and that I would be able to continue my life without him.
~*~*~*~
About an hour after I passed out, Ayame came in to check on me and found me lying on the floor motionless. I guess Sesshomaru had left by then. She freaked and quickly took me to the hospital. I was taken in and the doctors began to run tests on me. Luckily, nothing serious happened, I had completely exhausted my body. It couldn’t handle the stress anymore but even as I laid there in a deep sleep, Ayame said that tears never stopped rolling down my cheeks during my sleep. I slept for an entire day until everything started coming back to me and the darkness slowly began to fade away. When I finally woke up, everyone was there except for Sesshomaru. They began to tell me what happened, how they were worried and I thanked the heavens when they said that Sesshomaru didn’t know I was in the hospital. I didn’t want to become a burden to him any longer; he had his own life to worry about. I wasn’t allowed to leave the hospital that day because the doctor wanted to run more tests on me, just to make sure I was ok. Also I needed more rest so my body would regain its strength again. So after 2 days, I was finally released and went back to Ayame’s house.As for Sesshomaru, he left on his honeymoon the next day but I could imagine the vacation he was going to have. Ayame told me that she’d found him completely heartbroken when she entered the study after I’d left. She said that he quickly stood from where he was sitting and faced the door, thinking that I might’ve come back. Yet she saw the heartbreak clear in his eyes when he realized that it wasn’t me. That’s when he told her what happened and started to cry. He cried in Ayame’s arms, something he never did in front of anyone, not even me. That was the first day I ever saw him cry, all the other times, he was always trying to console me but never cried. That’s why it took Ayame so long to find me because she was busy consoling him. Eventually he calmed and left to live his now unhappy life because he couldn’t be with me. According to Ayame, that wasn’t the first time she’d seen him cry. After my “death”, he began to -really-trust her and started to show his real emotions to her. The day when they’d heard the news of the accident and when they were sure I’d been a part of it, she said that he was inconsolable. He spoke to no one and spent the entire time cursing Koga for ever existing and cursing God for taking me away from him. When the shock passed, he calmed but went through a dramatic change in a very short time. His personality changed completely; he started keeping to himself a lot, he wasn’t as expressive as he used to and indulged himself in as much work as possible, trying to stay away from the real world. Nothing mattered to him anymore and that’s why he agreed to go on with his family’s tradition by agreeing to marry Kagura at his father decision. At first he hated Kagura, despised her but as time passed and plans were being made, he got used to her but didn’t love her. He never could, his heart belonged to me no matter where I was and he would give it to no one until the day we would eventually meet again.
As Ayame was telling me, I felt like I was going to cry but I just couldn’t anymore. My body wouldn’t allow me to; I had no more tears left. Yet every night as I slept, they silently rolled down my cheeks as I dreamed of what I couldn’t have. As days passed, it started to calm and my body and soul began to heal up again. I started to try and live my life again by going out with Kagome and Sango, chatting with Ayame or hanging around with the gang. My heart slowly healed from the deep wound it had. It was funny though, at first the couples would try to avoid doing couple things in front of me, I guess they were afraid that I would go into another crying outbreak. I slowly started getting used to it and asked them not to change how they acted because of me. I mean yes it did hurt but I just had to get over it and very slowly started to although it was very hard.
Sesshomaru was scheduled to return in about a month and that’s when I was going to leave. I don’t think I could’ve handled seeing him again any time soon, my strength was far from being recovered. About a week before he was going to come back, I called Yuka and told her everything that happened. She obviously felt sorry for me but I just didn’t want anyone’s pity anymore. I asked her to look around and find me a place to live over there, even though she offered to keep me with her at her house. I didn’t want to become a burden to her so I refused. After many attempts, I finally convinced her and she found me a really nice apartment near downtown New York. Once everything was set up for my new place, I had all my things shipped to the new apartment and a day before Sesshomaru was going to arrive, I decided to leave. Everyone tried to convince me to stay but I just couldn’t, I wasn’t ready yet. I needed time, time to heal and staying there was not going to help. But to ease their worries or at least trying to, I left them with ALL of my information; my new address, cell phone number, house number and even Yuka’s house number just in case they wanted to get in contact with me, they could.
So I left California and went to live to New York. Living in the city was amazing but not as much as living out in the countryside where I did before. Yuka and I still remained close, either I would visit her or she would visit me. We would hang out together and go out to places, just trying to have fun and keep myself busy. I would constantly keep in contact with everyone, especially with Ayame and Kagome. It was funny though, I always had to call Kagome at exactly the time we’d arranged otherwise she would have a fit. She would start yelling at me on the phone, scolding me for not calling her on time. I, on the other hand, would just laugh on the other side of the phone but I understood her for being worried. I was EXTREMELY far away from her and she wanted to avoid what happened the first time to happen again. She always wanted me to keep her up to date on what I would do, which was hardly anything. I really wouldn’t do much anyway, just the few times I would go out with Yuka but it never was anything special. I would just sit in my loft, looking over the view of the city from the window, read or stargaze. I was never able to stop, there was always that little spark of hope in my heart that wished he was looking up at the sky at the same time I was, making him feel closer than ever. I had those feelings often and those slight moments were the ones that helped me to keep going, showing that he never forgot about me.
I remained that way for about 3 months, alone and mostly locked in my place but then I just began to get tired. I started getting bored more often and didn’t want to just be at home anymore so I decided to find myself a job to distract me. I figured it was about time that I put my master’s degree to good use, so I went job hunting near by and actually found a job pretty quickly. I think it was because of my father’s legacy in the world of business but I could’ve been wrong. It was funny to think that I got a job in the building that I would always admire from my place, the view of the city from where I lived was just breathtaking. Obviously, I was very well known there because of my involvement with Sesshomaru too but I don’t think that was the reason I got hired, at least back then. I didn’t get a grand position and didn’t want one either so I became the assistant to the trade department’s manager at Kagewaki Industries. I met a lot of new people there and made some new friends as well. Jakotsu, Bankotsu, Shippo and I became really close. They worked in the same floor as I did and they were just hilarious.
Jakotsu and Bankotsu were very sweet and VERY good-looking. They’d been working there for about two years and helped a lot when it came to getting to know the place. They were in charge of answering the phones of our department well they were the operators. Although, the day I found out that they were a couple, I seriously could not believe that they were gay. What a loss to us women but I guess they were too good to be true to begin with. Even though, they were very nice and I was happy that they were together. Jakotsu on the other hand, he pissed me off many times, flirting with whatever had a dick between its legs and stepped in front of him. Poor Bankotsu, I would feel so sorry for him because Jak would even do it in front of him. I don’t know how Ban did it but I guess he learned to deal with it and his love for Jak kept him at his side. Jakotsu was also very talkative; he would hardly ever shut up. Yet, it was funny hearing him ramble sometimes. Bankotsu was completely the opposite though, he was fairly quiet but it was very easy to start a conversation with him. I guess that’s why they were so good together because they complemented each other.
Shippo was about my age and a very intelligent guy. He was also very sweet, shy, funny and loved to please others, oh and he is a very cute redhead too. He always blushed when I told him that. He had been working there for about a year; he had to make sure all the paperwork was ready for Naraku to look at it. Shippo was a VERY hard worker and very dedicated to his job as well. He always dreamed of owning his own business but lacked the financial backing to open one. He had some really good ideas too but working for Naraku and trying to become competition at the same was definitely NOT a good mix. So he planned on working there until he saved enough to start his investment and quit. He had been single ever since he started working there, the hours just sucked -especially- for him since everything HAD to be perfect. Naraku was just picky and an ass like that. So he spent most of his time working and didn’t have the time to date. He would make a girl very happy someday and lucky she would be to have someone like him.
My life started to change ever since I met Jak, Ban and Shippo. We would go out together, hang out or they would just come over and keep me company. We’d have a blast and Yuka would join us on occasions too. I swear Shippo had a crush on Yuka because he would always ask if she was going with us but when we would ask him about it, he’d deny it, blushing of course. So we just let him be, we didn’t want to force anything to happen and make it a disaster. I told them my life’s story one day, since we’d decided to share our stories with each other and I left them at the brink of tears when I was done. Except for Jak, he just full out cried because he was very sensitive, well when he wanted to be. Although, I just couldn’t cry anymore and I wasn’t sure why. When I was re-telling them, my heart felt as if it twisted and my chest would tighten at times but no tears would ever come out. It did hurt having to remember everything again since I’d tried to forget that part of my life, yet the support they gave me helped lighten the pain. After some time, they convinced me to date again since they’d been bugging me for quite sometime. They supported their advice by using the saying ‘that the best way to get over the last one is with the next one’. Although I refused at first, I just couldn’t imagine myself with anyone but Sesshomaru. Until I finally realized that they were right so I went ahead and gave it a shot but mostly I did it to get them off my back. So I did go out on a number of dates with different people but they never worked out. None of them had what I wanted, none of them compared in the least to Sesshomaru and in the end, none of them were he. Eventually, I just gave up and decided to let fate and time take its course even if it meant staying alone for the rest of my days.
So for the next 3 months, my life was good. I had my job, which was a bit hectic but it kept me busy, good friends to talk to and a wonderful city to enjoy. I even got to meet Naraku in person; most of his employees didn’t know how he looked like. For some reason, I got to work him very often. My boss would ask me to take him papers or Naraku would personally ask for me. I didn’t really mind but it just seemed weird and I didn’t let it bother me. I’m sure I’ve mentioned before that Naraku was an extreme perfectionist. Anything turned into him HAD to be perfect otherwise he wouldn’t even look at it. He was an ass to all of his employees and yes that did include me. Although his looks said completely the opposite, he was VERY good looking. He honestly did NOT look his age, which I would say he was probably in his mid 40’s. Time was VERY good to him, yet he did seem familiar in a way, as if I’ve seen him somewhere before but I was never able to pinpoint where exactly. His black hair, light skin and intense dark eyes were mesmerizing. His face had an innocent look to it but when he was angry, his eyes shot daggers. He had the most deadly look to him that I didn’t blame everyone for being afraid of him.
I especially fell sorry for his assistant, Onigumo. Now he REALLY got to witness Naraku’s full rage since it was always thrown at him. Poor thing had to withstand the abuse Naraku would throw at him but yet he was always there. He had been working with him ever since Naraku started his business. Yet he was a very nice guy.
Although towards the end, I started to notice a change in Naraku’s behavior towards me. He started acting nicer and always insisted that I be the one to deliver his paperwork. In some occasions, he would complement me on my looks or the way I was dressed. Keep in mind since it was a professional company, I was always dressed in suits. But I had all my suits custom made to accentuate my figure yet keep the look professional. So I guess they served their purpose but unfortunately, it was with the WRONG person…
I was having my breakfast and reading the newspaper before it was time to head to work. I did see Sesshomaru in the paper occasionally and my heart would flutter every time but as time went on, I learned to just glance and read on since it was all I could do. I had just finished my meal and sat back on the chair, sipping my coffee and reading an article on the front page as my cell phone started to ring. Since my purse was next to me, I reached out and pulled my phone, opening it to answer.
“Hello,”
“Hey there stranger, how come you haven’t called?”
“Kagome, hey how are you? Sorry I’ve just been really busy at work.”
She teased, “Excuses excuses. Come on, if we’re not good enough for you anymore just tell me right now.”
I started to laugh, “Whatever Slim, you know that’s not true.”
Angry, “DAMN IT RIN, HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU NOT TO CALL ME THAT!”
I just couldn’t hold back and started laughing harder, “All right, all right, I’ll stop.”
“Good, so how you’ve been? I haven’t talked to you in a while.”
I giggled, “It hasn’t been that long Kagome. I talked to you what, like a week ago?”
“Yeah but a lot of things can happen in a week. How’s your job going so far?”
I just smiled and shook my head; “I’m doing well. I’ve been pretty busy lately trying to finish up some reports that my boss gave me to do but otherwise it’s ok.”
“Well that’s good. So is Naraku still being an ass to you?”
“He’s an ass to everyone but lately, he’s been… nicer… well, to me at least, for some reason.”
Worried, “I don’t know Rin but you’ve got to be careful, I don’t trust him.”
I giggled, “I know, I will don’t worry. Now enough about me… how’s everyone doing?”
“Good. Actually, Kohaku and Kanna are living together now.”
Surprised, “Really, wow that’s great. It’s about time those two moved on, they’re so cute together too.”
“Yeah, I’m sure we’ll be getting news that they’re going to get married soon.”
“I hope so. How’s Sango and Miroku?”
“Still together as always, just working a lot though. They want to save up money for their trip. Did Ayame tell you about that?”
“Yeah she did when I talked to her yesterday. I’m glad those two are getting along well. How about you and Inuyasha?”
“We’re ok, although we don’t get to see each other often. I’m always at the office and he’s working so we get to see each other at night but only for a little while. I guess you could say that in a way it’s helping our relationship.”
At that moment, I got flashbacks of when Sess and I were like them, which pulled at my still healing heart. Although, I remained silent and I never realized that Kagome had stopped talking. I guess when I didn’t respond to her, she must’ve thought that the call had gotten disconnected.
“Hello, Rin… are you still there?”
“Yeah…”
Worried, “Hey, are you ok?”
Sadly, “… How is he?”
She sighed; sadly, “Do you really want me to answer?”
I stared blankly out the window as I slightly shook my head, “I… I don’t know…”
She sighed again, “I’m not going to lie to you Rin but right now, it’s not going very well for him.”
Lightly, “Oh… is it because of her?”
“Part of it and I don’t need to tell you what the other part is, you know it very well.”
I sighed and closed my eyes, “Yeah, I know… I just hate that it’s not going well for him.”
“I know but something’s just can’t be helped. Don’t worry though, he’ll be ok. We’re still here for him; we won’t let anything happen to him, that I promise you.”
I curled my lips to a smile, “Thanks Kagome.”
Sounding more optimistic, “No prob. Oh, Inuyasha says Hi by the way.”
I giggled, “Tell him I said Hi.”
Yet I was able to hear her conversation in the background, “She says hi. WHAT? I’m not going to tell her that, believe me she doesn’t want to know”.
“Then I’ll tell her, here let me talk to her.”
“NOOOO, Inuyasha STOP! *Scuffling * LET GO OF THE PHONE!”
Meanwhile, I started to laugh at hearing their argument. Who knows what they were talking about but hearing them argue was very funny.
“DAMN IT, IT’S NOT LIKE IT’S THE END OF THE WORLD IF SHE FINDS OUT. She’ll find out sooner or later. DAMN YOU JUST LET GO!”
“NOT IF YOU DON’T TELL HER… ahhh * more scuffling sounds *”
Inuyasha, “Hello… Rin, you still there?”
Laughing, “Yes… How… could I pass up an opportunity to hear you two yelling at each other again?”
Sarcastically, “I’m glad we amuse you… anyway, did she tell you what we did the other day?”
Curious, “No, she didn’t. What was it?”
“We were kicking back in the living room watching movies when Ms. High and Mighty over here challenged me…”
I giggled, “Oh really, what was the challenge?”
He chuckled, “A burping contest.”
I was taking a sip of my coffee when I heard what he said and literally, spit it out laughing. Shocked, “A what? Kagome, do a burping contest… Oh, that’s just hilarious.”
He laughed, “Yeah and the sad part is… she beat me too.”
“INUYASHA, YOU’RE GOING TO PAY FOR THIS. GET OVER HERE…” I could tell they were running around by then because of the sound of the wind.
“Oh shit, now she’s chasing me around the yard. She’s pissed off now here… I’m going to give her back to you…”
Still laughing, “Ok…”
“HERE’S THE DAMN PHONE, STOP THROWING SHIT AT ME…”
Kagome, panting, “He’s lying… don’t believe him, he’s just saying that to get to me.”
“A burping contest huh? How sophisticated of you Kagome, I didn’t know you had it in you.” Then I started to laugh again.
Angry, “I DIDN’T DO IT DAMN IT… THAT’S GROSS AND I’M NOT LIKE THAT”
“LIAR…”
“SHUT UP, INUYASHA!”
“Well, I’d love to hear more about it but I’ve got to go now. I’ve got to head to work now.”
“All right, but I DIDN’T do it.”
I giggled, “All right, you didn’t. I’ll talk to you later ok…”
“Ok, take care bye.”
“Bye.” Then I clicked my phone off.
I looked up at the clock, “Shit, I barely have enough time to get to work.” Quickly I stood, grabbed my purse and headed to work.
I barely made it on time, thankfully there wasn’t much traffic through the route I took to work. So I headed up to the 32nd floor and started to work. I didn’t get to see anyone until after lunchtime when we got together at Shippo’s cubicle to have a little chat.
Jakotsu asked, “Rin, where you’ve been? I haven’t seen you at all morning.”
I giggled, “What you should be doing Jak, working.” Ban and Shippo started to laugh as Jak stuck his tongue out at me. “Actually, I’ve been running around everywhere over to payroll, accounting, to Naraku’s office. You know, the usual.”
Shippo chuckled, “Why go to the gym when you can get your workout here AND get paid for it.”
Laughing, “That’s true.”
Ban then asked, “But one thing is for certain, HOW can you stand working with Naraku in person? I mean, I don’t even know him and he gives me the chills.” Jak raised an eyebrow as Ban turned to look at him, raising his hands defensively, “not in a good way.”
I giggled, “Yeah, Jak he’s not a horn dog like you…” That time he just fully flipped me off and I started to laugh, “He’s actually not that bad…”
Shippo’s eyes widened, shocked, “Not THAT bad, he’s horrible. I can’t stand him even for the 5-second calls he gives me. Most of the time it’s telling me how bad my work is.”
I looked at him, “Well not to me… I don’t know but whom I REALLY feel sorry for is Onigumo. He takes all that crap that Naraku throws at him, I swear he really goes off on him. Poor guy but yet he still stays, I just don’t know how he does it.”
Jak added, “Well I think he likes him, that’s why takes all his shit.”
Ban, “Jak, you can’t say that. That might not be true, he’s probably just very dedicated to his job.”
Jak, “Bullshit, no matter how dedicated I am to my job, I wouldn’t let my boss yet at me how Naraku does to Onigumo.”
Suddenly Onigumo interrupted, lightly; “Did I just hear someone say my name?”
We all turned shocked towards the older man. He was well in his early 40’s but still fairly handsome. Smiling, I reached out and wrapped my arm around his and pulled him in to the little ‘meeting’, “Yeah, we were just talking about how can you withstand to work with Naraku? I mean, I work with him but not as must as you and he ALWAYS manages to get on my last nerve.”
Onigumo smiled and chuckled, “Well, I’ve known Naraku for a long time. We went to school together when we were younger and I’ve learned to look past the abuse. He’s really a nice guy when he wants to…” I swear you could see little hearts and stars flying around his head, as he was talking. We all just gave him a weird look as he pulled himself from me and turned to walk away, “Well, I’ve got to get back to work…”
We turned and looked at each other, nodding and saying at the same time, “Yep, he likes him.”
Suddenly, my boss yelled, “IMAMURA…”
I rolled my eyes, “Shit now what? Well, let me go see what he wants. I’ll be right back.” Then I turned to walk towards my boss’s office.
Jak nodded, “All right Rin.” Ban just nodded.
Shippo, “Ok.”
As I was walking into his office, “Yes Mr. Taka…” He glanced up and gave me an annoyed look, “I mean, Hakudoshi. Sorry, you called for me?” My boss, Hakudoshi hated people calling him by his last name. So he insisted that they call him by his given name. He wasn’t so bad but he did have an attitude problem sometimes, although his I could handle. No wonder why people said that he and Naraku could be related.
He looked up and nodded, “Yes, Naraku just called and asked for you. He wants you to go up to his office right away.”
Curious, “Did he say why or for what?”
He shook his head, “No, he just said that he wanted to see you. I don’t know what he wants.”
“Hmmm… I wonder. I guess I better go find out.”
He nodded, “Yes, I think it’d be wise not to make him wait, you know how he gets when he waits for too long.”
I shook my head, “Oh don’t remind me.” Opening the door, I heard Hakudoshi chuckle before I walked out of the office to find the gang still standing by Shippo’s desk.
Ban asked, “What happened?”
I slightly shook my head, “No, nothing. He just told me that Naraku called and asked for me. He wants to see me in his office.”
Jak, “Do you know for what?”
I shook my head, lightly, “I don’t know. Hakudoshi doesn’t know why either, Naraku didn’t tell him anything.” Somehow though, I started getting a bad feeling about that sudden meeting of his.
Shippo interrupted my thoughts, “What’s wrong Rin?”
“I don’t know but I’m getting a bad feeling about this.”
Jak started to rub my arm; “It’s going to be ok, just go and then tell us what happened.”
I nodded, “All right,” then turned and walked towards the elevator. As I was going to press the button to the top floor, I noticed that my hands were shaking a bit. ‘Shit why the hell am I shaking? Control Rin, Control.’ Finally I pushed the button and the elevator opened up to take me up to his office. When the doors opened, there was no one. Usually, Onigumo was working at the front desk but he was no where in sight. It seemed weird that he wasn’t there but I just stepped in anyway and walked up to the desk.
I pressed the page button on the phone and Naraku immediately answered, “What is it Onigumo?”
I cleared my throat, nervously, “Actually… It’s Ms. Imamura… You wanted to see me?”
His tone of voice suddenly changed, “Ah yes, come into my office.”
“All right.” I walked over and took a deep breath before I turned the knob and opened the door, stepping in. He was sitting on his chair, not removing his gaze from me as I walked up to his desk. The look in his eyes made me feel uncomfortable but I remained silent until I asked, “Yes, sir. What can I do for you?”
He curled his lips up to a smile and chuckled, something I had NEVER seen him do before which made the atmosphere feel even weirder. He turned and looked out his office window, “What can you do for me… hmmm… you’ve already done enough.”
His tone of voice gave me the creeps, “Sir?”
Looking out, “You’ve been working here for how long?”
‘I don’t know what that has to do with anything.’ “For about 3 months.”
“And how do you like the position you have?”
“I have no problem with it, I like it.”
I heard him chuckle again, “Good.” Then he turned towards me, his eyes bearing at me, “How would you like an office with a view like this?” as he pointed towards the window.
I walked over and looked out the window. WOW if the view from my house was amazing, that was absolutely INCREDIBLE. I gasped, “Oh my goodness, that’s beautiful.”
Then he walked right behind me and whispered in my ear, “Isn’t it?” before he walked over and sat on his desk. The feel of his breath on my neck gave me the chills of disgust. He sat there staring at me, examining my entire body from head to toe. When I felt his gaze upon me, I looked towards him, giving him a questionable look. He chuckled again, “You look…” as he stared at my legs longer than needed, “… absolutely enticing.” Then I noticed him licking his lips.
I didn’t know what to say, I just raised my eyebrow and looked at him as he stood and walked towards me, “What if I told you that there is a way for you to get a promotion?” I didn’t answer him, just stood still and followed him with my gaze as he spoke and stood behind me, speaking into my ear, “You know, you have a lot of -potential-” as he placed his hands on my waist and pulled me back against him.
THAT’s when everything went bad. I turned and slapped him, angry, “What the… What kind of girl do you think I am? I’m NOT the type that sleeps around to get to the top. I’d rather stay where I am thank you.” Then I turned and walked in the direction of the door. Suddenly, he stopped me and wrapped his arm my waist, pulling me towards him again. I screamed, “LET GO OF ME…” as I tried to pry his arm off.
He growled, “No but you do sleep with the ones that are already at the top, Kitazawa for example.”
I was fuming by then, “WHAT? My personal life is none of your business,” as I continued to try and loosen myself from his grasp.
He growled again and spoke into my ear, “Feisty aren’t you? I see why you drove Sesshomaru crazy.”
By then, I was digging my nails into his arm, trying to pry myself but he only kept tightening his hold on me, yelling, “DAMN YOU NARAKU, LET GO OF ME. YOU MAKE ME SICK.”
Then he groaned, “Bitch, you know you’re only turning me on more with your wriggling.” He pulled me against him again and that’s when I felt his bulge poke my lower back, a gasp of shock and fear escaping me as I stood still from the shock. Suddenly, he chuckled and I felt him lower his right hand down from my waist to my thigh. Unfortunately, that day I’d decided to wear a skirt and he started to slowly hike it up.
My eyes closed as I felt him running his hand on my thigh, tears welling up in my eyes as I prayed, ‘God PLEASE don’t let this happen, please stop this.’ I felt absolutely helpless because I wasn’t able to pry his arm off me, I just hoped that something would make him stop.
“Hmmm… you feel so good. You know Sesshomaru has good taste in women, I give you that. He’s not as stupid as I thought him to be. Unfortunately, he got to you first but now, it’s my turn to see with what you enchanted him.”
Tears started to scroll down my cheeks and my hands started to tremble as I felt him move his hand further up and back. Then he reached in and I felt him cup my right buttock in his hand. When I felt his hand squeeze at my behind, my eyes widened as my mind shouted, ‘GET OUT OF THERE, DO SOMETHING NOW!!!’ I just didn’t know what to do but at the moment, whatever it took to get him off me was enough. So I quickly lifted and bent my left arm while he was distracted and hit him -HARD- on his stomach with my elbow. It pushed all the air out of him and it made him finally release me. When I felt him let go, I walked as far away as possible as he clutched his arm to his stomach.
He painfully groaned and when he noticed me walking away from him he yelled, “Bitch, where the hell do you think you’re going?” as he leaned on his desk, still trying to regain his breath.
I’d walked to the door by then and held onto the knob, in case he tried to walk up to me again. That way I could just walk out and away from him. When I heard him yell, I stopped and turned towards him, opening the door and hearing Onigumo ask, “Is everything all right?”
I turned towards Onigumo and back to Naraku, who stood up and looked at me with hateful eyes, not moving from where he stood. Angry, “No it’s not ok. You know Naraku, you’re one sick BASTARD and I refuse to work for a man that thinks degrading women is right.”
I’m guessing because Onigumo was standing by the door Naraku didn’t run up to me again and who knows what he would’ve done. All he did was stand where he was and continued to look at me, “If you leave now, I WILL make sure NO ONE hires you anywhere else in this city. Is that what you want?”
I raised an eyebrow, “Oh really? And what reason will you give them? Because I refused to be your personal whore and hurt your pride?” I slightly shook my head and scoffed, “Naraku, if I were you, I’d just keep my mouth shut. You’d only cause you and your business more harm, it is a FEDERAL offense you know?”
He knew I was right and that was the SECOND wound to his pride, I was able to tell because I noticed him fisting his hands at his sides. He yelled angrily, “You… get the fuck out of my office and clean out your desk IMMEDIATELY.”
I shook my head, sternly; “You don’t have to fire me Naraku because I QUIT.” Then I turned and walked out of his office, slamming the door behind me. I felt horrible and my body was trembling from my efforts to hold back the tears that had already emerged.
As I started walking towards the elevator, Onigumo followed next to me, lightly, “What happened?”
I reached the elevator and pushed the down button. I lowered my head as I waited, sadly, “He… he tried… to take advantage of me.”
He sighed, sadly, “You too?”
My eyes widened and I looked up at him, shocked, “What do you mean ‘you too’? He’s done this before?”
He nodded and looked away, lowering his head in shame, “Yes, Naraku has a reputation for sleeping with his female employees, using them and then letting them go. I guess he tried to do that to you…” Then he looked up at me, “… but … it looks like you were one of the smart ones.”
I was shocked, I couldn’t believe that bastard got away with it. It just sickened me, even more to think that he wanted to sleep with me when he’s slept with who knows HOW MANY other women. I just looked away from him and shook my head, “I can’t believe he gets away with this.”
“Money and power can let anyone get away with many things and he has that. It’s just a shame that he uses it for evil instead of good. But don’t worry Rin, you’ll be all right, I can tell. You’re a strong young woman and someone like Naraku won’t be enough to bring you down.”
I looked towards him and found him with a warm smile. I curled my lips up to a smile, “Thank you Onigumo.” Suddenly, the elevator doors opened and I stepped in, turning to face the doors.
When they were closing, he said, “Take care Rin,” before they fully closed. As I was going back down to the floor where I work, I almost lost it. I was almost going to cry but I held back, I didn’t want to make a scene. When I reached the 32nd floor, my body started feeling cold. I walked out of the elevator and wrapped my arms around, trying to warm myself up.
I unconsciously made my way back to Shippo’s cubicle and when he caught sight of me, his eyes widened and he stood, shocked, “What the… Rin, what happened? Why are you pale?”
I had my head down, looking at the floor when I lifted it and looked at him, seeing his face full of worry. Although the moment I did, I couldn’t hold back the tears anymore and they started to scroll down my cheeks, “He… I…”
He came up to me and walked me over to his chair, lightly, “Hey, it’s ok. Here sit down, tell me what happened? Why did you come back like this?” He kneeled in front of me, resting his arms on my legs.
I looked at him and remained silent as I noticed Jak and Ban show up seconds later, asking the same questions. I glanced at them all, seeing all of them worried and started to cry a bit more, hating the fact that I was making them worry. I bent down and started to lightly sob into my hands, “He… tried to… take… advantage of me… but I… didn’t let him.”
“WHAT?” They all screamed at the same time and going off, cursing Naraku for what he tried to do.
Suddenly, I heard Hakudoshi’s voice call out, “WHAT is going on here?”
I lifted my hands to look at him, seeing him take a step forwards, looking at me, lightly, “What happened to you Rin? Why are you crying?”
I remained silent, feeling Shippo’s hand rub my back trying to console me when Jak answered the question for me, “She’s crying because that bastard Naraku tried to take her.”
He slightly glanced at him and back at me, “Is that true?”
I nodded and lowered my head, “Yes,” as I felt more tears start to fall.
Then Hakudoshi growled, “That bastard, when is he ever going to fucking stop?”
Ban asked, “What? So this isn’t the first time he’s tried to do this?”
I shook my head and answered, still not looking up, “No. Onigumo said that he’s done this many times before.”
Ban, angry, “What an asshole…”
Hakudoshi, “Rin, did he ask you to clear out?”
I nodded, “Yes.”
Shippo, shocked, “He fired you?”
Hakudoshi responded, “He always does that, whether they fall or not, they get fired. Shippo, help clear her desk and take her home. I will take care of whatever reports you have left.”
Shippo, “All right. Come on Rin, let’s get you out of here.”
I looked up at him and nodded, standing up to walk over and clear my things away. Once everything was packed, Shippo helped me carry them to his car and handed my car keys to Ban so they could drop it off at my place when they were off from work. Although, Shippo took me downtown to the police department to file a sexual harassment report against Naraku before he took me home. Even though he knew it wasn’t going to be of much use since he’s gotten away with more, it was still a good idea to keep it on record against him. So I gave my testimony and about an hour later, I was finally allowed to go home. During the drive to my place, I remained silent just stared blankly out the window. By then Shippo had heard EXACTLY what happened with Naraku and hated him even more. When we arrived to my place, he opened my door since he’d taken the house key out of my keys and let me walk in first.
He closed it behind him and walked next to me, placing his hands on my shoulders, lightly, “Go clean up and I’ll bring your things up, ok?” I just turned and looked at him, nodding before I made my way to my bathroom. Honestly, I felt filthy, dirty at the thought that Naraku’s hands were on me. So I undressed and went into the shower and vigorously scrubbed myself off. I started to cry again as I tried to take Naraku’s scent off me but it seemed like it wouldn’t, no matter how hard I tried. When I was done, I left my skin irritated and a bright red of how hard I scrubbed. I dried off and changed in whatever I had lying there, so I ended up wearing a T-shirt and sweatpants. When I got out of the shower, I walked out to the living room and found Shippo sitting on the couch, waiting for me. He remained silent as I walked over and sat next to him, leaning in to rest my head on his shoulder as he wrapped his right arm around me.
I remained silent, feeling him stroke my back lightly. I closed my eyes and Sesshomaru’s face suddenly appeared in front of me, making me start to lose control again. Lightly, “Shippo, I need him here,” as tears started to fall and my body started to tremble. He tightened his arm around me as I buried my face in his shoulder, not being able to hold back the sobs anymore, “I need him here with me…”
He wrapped his other arm around me and tightened them, holding me close to him as he leaned in, lightly, “I know.” He started rocking our bodies lightly in an effort to calm me.
I started to sob heavily and clutched tightly to him, sobbing, “Shippo, I want him with here with me…”
He placed his cheek on my forehead and nodded, still holding onto me and rocking our bodies as he whispered, “I know Rin… I know…”
~*~*~*~