InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Count the Pretty Spiders ❯ Chapter 4 ( Chapter 4 )

Title: Count the Pretty Spiders

 

Author: Anonymous Fangirl

 

Summary: After the death of Kagome's grandfather, she had two options: quite school to help with the shrine, or hire a new priest who will work for room and board. But. . . what's Naraku doing there? (Naraku x Kagome)

 

Rating: Mature.

 

Anonymous Fangirl: They're going to do - it!

 

Kagome: I'm a tramp. . .

 

Anonymous Fangirl: But as far as tramps go, you are an awfully good looking one. . .

 

Pairings: Naraku - Kagome

 

Etc: You would be surprised how easily writer's block is coming to me nowadays. I think it's because I only have two years left in school and I have no idea what I want to do with my life and my teachers and class mates are all pressuring me about college and the muse is feeling just a little bit stiffled. But you can help! All you need to do is REVIEW. You have no idea how much it would mean to me!

 

More Etc: Thank you to BlackSheep for telling me Mrs. Hirgurashi's real name (where the hell did you find it?! I searched most of the series!)

 

 

Chapter Four

 

Kogajiin clapped his hands together in appreciation, finishing his meal with a lick of his lips to remove any flavor that had gathered there. “Yup. You were right.” Kogajiin assured her with a joyous sigh. “I'm never gonna leave you again.” He said. His face was still facing his plate, and he hadn't bothered to lift it when he spoke to her, only lifting his eyes to meet hers.

 

The glance sent unwanted chills up Kagome's back, making her question her fidelity towards her beloved Inuyasha.

 

“Was it really that good?” Kagome asked, proud that her voice hadn't shaken in the slightest, despite her heart beat. He had eaten, alright. . . and stared at her the entire time, as if he knew that she would taste better.

 

Kagome shook her head. Of course he hadn't been looking at her that way! She assured herself. She was just on a hormonal high from being around far to many hot people. There was Inuyasha, Sesshoumaru, Miroku, and, though she was loath to admit it, Naraku. For an evil villian, Naraku was rather good looking. She had always though that it was unfair that he hadn't been cursed with an extra limb, or at the very least a wart upon his nose. But no - his outside had never once matched his inside, which was dark, gothic, and sadistic. And now she just had one more man around her that simply dripped with that ever - so - nice testotrone that she simply adored!

 

“. . . and if that wasn't a success, I could always use my penis as a pogo stick to get to the moon.” Kogajiin said, barely able to keep himself from laughing and ruining the stolen line.

 

Kagome froze. “Excuse me?” She asked, slightly horrified that she hadn't been paying attention to the conversation.

 

Kogajiin shrugged. “Patch Adams. Don't you remember when he was talking to the therapist and the therapist wasn't paying attention? He said that line and the therapist didn't even react, because he hadn't heard it.” Kogajiin leaned his head on one palm. “I didn't think you were listening to me.”

 

Kagome waved her hand and assured him that she had in fact , been paying close attenion.

 

Kogajiin smiled. “Then what was I saying?”

 

Kagome's smile never faultered. “You were. . . complimenting my unsurpassed culinary skills!” She exclaimed, hoping that he hadn't changed the subject.

 

Kogajiin raised one eyebrow. “Are you sure?” he asked in a voice that told her he already knew the answer.

 

This time Kagome faultered, cursing every beautiful man that existed for this embarrassment. She tried to recall, but when she asnwered that she was sure, she blushed. Even she had been aware of the high pitched sqeuak that the yes had ended in.

 

However, rather than embarrassing her as her brother or her grandfather would have, or chasitising her as her mother would have felt compelled to do, he did something that made a tiny warmth fill her from her head to her toes.

 

He laughed.

 

He had laughed earlier, Kagome was sure, but those to her were not really laughs. They were certainly sounds of amusement, but this. . .

 

It was heavy and heady, the sound causing Kagome to smile too. The laugh had layer after layer, like a fine brandy that burned it's way in to her soul. A beautiful sound the likes of which she had never heard, in the past or the present. A sound that she would very much enjoy hearing again.

 

Kogajiin's laughter slowed to a light chuckle, which he hid behind a single, lightly scarred hand. Kagome stared at the bare skin for a moment, and when Kogajiin saw her attentiveness to the blemished skin, the humor in his face quickly died away and he hid the hand beneath the table.

 

The sudden movement of the appendage that she had been so entranced by caused Kagome to jump and meet his eye, as if she were a child who had ben caught stealing from a candy store.

 

Though Kagome tried to hide it, she knew that Kogajiin must have seen the thoughts that passed through her mind flicker across her face. The humor didn't return to Kogajiin's eyes, but he donned a smile that Kagome knew immediately to be fake.

 

“Shall I do the dishes?” He asked eloquently, in a prime and proper voice that startled Kagome. Where had the formalities come from? She had thought that they had been getting along spectacularly! Had she really seen something so horrible, something that he hadn't wanted anyone to see?

 

Kagome's worries were banished when she saw that he was standing near her in a slight bow, a napkin over his arm, as if imatating a butler. She shook her head. “No, it's okay. I can do them.”

 

“Nonsense!” Kogajiin said, incesstant. “You cooked, I'll clean.” He told her, not giving her a chance to protest as he quickly collected her dirtied dinner ware. He strode purposefully to the kitchen, and with only one complaint directed at the hot water tap, he began to wash the dishes, giving Kagome an oppertuinity she had hoped for all day - the opportunity to study his features throughly.

 

He was handsome, to say the least. His features looked uncannily familiar, but for fear of summoning the devil himself, Kagome didn't even dare to think his name. His skin was darker than most Japenese - she gave pause and wondered if he had western descendant - and his eyes were an almost inhuman shade of mahogany, only adding to his devilishly handsome good looks. But something was amiss, Kagome knew, and she paid a closer attention to his skin. It took her only a few moments to find what she was looking for, and if it hadn't been for his dark skin she may have never found it. Just like on his hand, his face and neck held faint scar lines - burns, perhaps? - that were nearly undistinguishable from his skin.

 

Kagome wondered where the scars had come from, but knew from his earlier reaction to her scrutiny that he would be put off by any questioning that had to do with his scarring, unnoticable though it may have been. Instead, she brought up a topic that she knew he would have no objections to - the shrine in which he had grown up on, and the grandfather he seemed to adore.

 

Kogajiin's face was nearly immediately lit with a kind of love you normally only find gracing the features of a new mother. “Boy, oh boy, I could talk your ear off telling you stories from the shrine.” He assured her, never ceasing in his chore.

 

Kagome braced her back against the counter and pulled herself up, watching him do the dishes. “Well, talk away. I promise, I wont get bored.” After all, she thought with a wry smile that he wouldn't have been able to interpertate, her grandfather had made sure that she could look interested in any story, boring or otherwise. Though she had little doubt that his stories would certainly be fascinating.

 

Kogajiin grabbed a towel and began to dry off a plate. “Well, my father died when I was just a kid.” He said, no sadness in his voice. “And my mother. . . well, she died in child birth.” And therein lay the sadness.

 

Kagome nodded, but didn't offer up any apologies. She, too, had lost her father when she was very young, and apologies only seemed to make matters worse to her. As if they could have done anything to stop the death. . . as if you could have. . . as if anybody could have. . .

 

“Well, my grandfather took me in and raised me.” Kogajiin smiled wistfully and picked up another plate. “He was an old man, and he certainly wasn't the best person to raise a little hellion like me, but he did the best he could, and he always made sure that I had the best.” Even when I didn't want it. . . He thought sardonically but didn't say anything else out loud.

 

Kagome nodded understandingly. “My own grandfather just died. . . he ran the shrine. . .” She was going to explain that was the reason that they had hired him - or were going to, as the case would be. To replace her grandfather. But the look in his eyes when they strayed to her told her that he already knew - and she didn't have to dwell on the subject anymore.

 

“Anyways. . . our shrine isn't much different from yours - well, in appearances, anyways. Our shrine isn't nearly so mainstreamed as yours is, though.” Kogajiin said with a knowing nodd.

 

Kagome's head cocked to one side of it's own accord. “What do you mean?”

 

Kogajiin shrugged. “Well, your shrine is in the hustling, bustling metropolis of Tokyo. . . ours is just a tiny little thing on Kyoto that costs more than it's worth. . .” He shook his head as he complained, but he smiled while he did so, showing his affections for the old building through his actions rather than his words.

 

Kagome could relate. “I have a confession. . .” She began a little bashfully.

 

Kogajiin's eyes narrowed slightly, once again reminding her of how very much he looked like Naraku. But after a moment of studying her face, his own lightened in to the calm expression that Kagome had come to recognize as the one expression Naraku could never hold. “What's that?” He asked, trapping her against the counter she sat on with an arm on each side of her legs.

 

Kagome nearly forgot how to speak coherantly when he looked up at her that way, the hairs on his arms brushing intimately against her thighs, his breath against her neck. Kagome felt her skin tingle and she knew if she knelt just a little one way, or a little another way, she would get the body contact that her body seemed to demand of her. And if she were to lean forward just enough. . .

 

“Kagome?” His voice puleld her out of her own wanton thoughts and she once again cursed the male population. Why in the world had god chosen to create beautiful men?

 

“Well, up until about three years ago, I didn't think much of our family shrine.” Kagome admitted, thinking back to her fifteenth birhtday. They day that had changed her life forever. “In fact, I was just a normal, spoiled little fifteen year old girl who only wanted a boyfriend.” She smiled, and remembered her sheer elation when her friends, Eri, Yuka, and Ayumi had informed her that the Hojo of class A had wanted to take her out on a date! Of course, her elation had died soon enough. . . In those days, she hadn't had time to properly take her high school courses, let alone take her courses, save the world from an ancient evil, and try to have a single night of normalcy on a date with average, all-Japenese boy Hojo.

 

“What made you change your outlook?” Kogajiin asked, leanining in just a little bit more. Kagome's heart rate speed up, and she could hear her own blood rushing past her ears. Staring down in to his eyes, she wondered momentarily why he seemed to crave physical contact. She wondered even longer why she wasn't opposed to it. But the look in his eyes wasn't one of lust, as it would in the eyes of most boys who were so close to her. . . no, the look in his eyes was the same one she had seen earlier when she had first asked him about his grandafther and his shrine. One of compassion, not heated passion.

 

“You wouldn't believe me if I told you, so I'm not going to tell you.” Kagome said with a smile, and a look in her eyes that told him that the subject was not open for discussion.

 

He obviously never took Body Language 101. He's arms tensed, reminding Kagome of iron bars, and his eyes narrowed again, telling her that she had no choice but to tell him anything and everything he wanted to know. Kagome shuddered, knowing exactly where she had seen that expression before.

“Listen, Naraku, just because I don't want to tell you doesn't mean that you can intimadate me in to giving you any information that you want!” Kagome exclaimed, sliding under his arms and off of the counter, quickly putting distance between herself and the man.

 

Kogajiin's eyes didn't cease to stare at her with the same intensity, but his face wore an expression of humor. “Who's Naraku?” He asked, obviously pleased that he had gotten the name from her.

 

Kagome knew she paled visibly. Had she said his name aloud? The answer, of course, was yes. But it couldn't he helped! With his eyes drilling in to her own, his posture demanding submission, he had just reminded her so much of her adversary that int hat moment, she hadn't questioned his identity. To her, in that moment, he had been Naraku.

 

Kagome didn't smile. “I'm sorry. . . you just reminded me of someone that I wouldn't care to remember.”

 

Kogajiin's face sobered, whether in apology or otherwise, she wasn't sure. But she did know that he wouldn't raise the topic again. She was about to turn the conversation to lighter matters when her mother and younger brother walked in to the kitchen.

 

Sasha was the first to acknowledge their guest's presence. “Well, hello there! You must be an applicant. I'm surprised Kagome found anyone so soon.” She turned to her daughter. “Don't be rude, Kagome. Introduce him to us.” She tld her daughter in a soft chastising voice.

 

Kagome's face broke out in to a sarcastic smile. “Where are my manners?” She asked, her voice dripping with cynicsism. “Kogajiin, this is my mother, Sasha, and my yonger brother, Souta."

 

Kogajiin brought a finger to his forehead and dipped his head forward lightly. “Greeting, Higurashi's!” He grabbed Kon Loon Higurashi's hand and gave it a light kiss, looking up at her with enough charm to make a nun shake with repressed sexual need. “It's very obvious where Kagome gets her good looks from.” He said, causing the two females to do a mental swoon.

 

Souta crinkled his nose. “Hey, Kogajiin! That's my mother you're flirting with.” He said, clearly disgusted by the fact.

 

Kogajiin dropped Kon's hand and feigned exhaustperation. “I have no idea what you're talking about! I'm no flirt!” His eyes stole there way to Kagome, and she shuddered a little under there intense scrutiny.

 

Souta's expression was one of deep thought, and finally, he laughed. “You're just like James Bond!” (A/N: O_o Naraku as James Bond. . . what a thought!) Souta, immediately taking a liking to the young shrine caretaker, took his hand and lead him towards the living room where the game consoles were and away from the girls. Kagome only caught portions of his rambling. “Do you play James Bond? Do you own any game consoles? You have that many games!? Sweet! Can I borrow it?”

 

“So, he's the one you picked out, huh?” Kon asked, not taking her eyes of the boys, who had begun to argue about which person got which controller.

 

Kagome smiled and rubbed the back of her neck. “More like the one that followed me home.”

 

Kogajiin looked up from the living room, feigning insultion. “You make me sound like a dog!” He exclaimed.

 

Kagome cocked one eyebrow. “Then what are you?”

 

“Spiderman!” Souta supplied, leaping up in joy.

 

Kagome paled instantly. “What's wrong?” Kogajiin asked, humor in his voice at a seemingly private joke. “Don't you like Spiderman?” He held up a case that Souta had thrown aside when he inserted the game in to the console.

 

Kagome shook her head at her own foolishness, and demanded herself to knock it off. She was being ridiculus! This wasn't Naraku! This was an overenthusistic college student, born and raised in Japan, and not only did he reside in this century, he had born born less than two decades ago!

 

The theme song for Spiderman began to play, a wordless rendition of a not - so - classic. Kogajiin looked back over his shoulder at her, a questioning, cursorary glance, and Kagome gave him a reassuring smile that she was fine.

 

Kogajiin turned back to the game, and Kagome missed the secret smile that played on his lips.

 

 

 

Anonymous Fangirl - Next chapter Inuyasha comes to visit! (this can not be good. . .) Review!