InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ De Nouveau ❯ De Nuevo ( Chapter 2 )

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De Nouveau

 

By SaiyanBlack

 

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Chapter Two

 

 

She froze. Those eyes… she'd seen those eyes somewhere before, but she couldn't remember ever seeing eyes that particular shade of gold. Although it was his very presence that had her so completely still. She felt overwhelmed and short of breath, as if all the air around her had thinned when she met his gaze. But it wasn't a bad experience. In fact, she felt warm and relieved, sort of like she would if she were coming home after a long vacation.

 

All these contradicting emotions and feelings seemed to swim around inside her in a jumble, making her feel as if she was about to tip over from the light headedness that seemed to come over. But his golden gaze, that seemed just as surprised and shocked as hers must have seemed, kept her on her feet.

 

“Inuyasha,” the tension between them severed quickly and she could swear that she got whiplash when amber-eyes were pulled away. Kagome had to take a deep breath to calm her nerves before she collapsed and Kouga continued as if he hadn't interrupted anything, “Man, I'm sorry. I need to start working if I want to keep my job. I didn't think that Mr. H would give me such a tongue lashing for skipping a day.”

 

Kagome felt as if her knees were going to give out and she leaned against the back of the counter and sat on the floor before she fell. Her heart was racing and her breath came shaking gasps but she felt calm at the same time. Neither Kouga nor… he seemed to realize that she was no longer standing and frankly, she wasn't paying any attention to the conversation that they were having, finding that she needed all her concentration to return her body back to normal.

 

What was that?! Those eyes seemed so familiar, but she was sure that she had never seen him before. And his presence! She felt like she was being engulfed, drowned, drugged and suffocated all in the same instant and all she did was meet his eyes. Those eyes…

 

Someone cleared their throat above her and she looked up, the back of her head making a thunk sound as it connected with the wood paneling of the counter. The eyes that haunted her thoughts were staring down at her over the edge with a shocked look that bordered on amused. Silver hair fell over one shoulder from where it was pulled back much like hers was and his bangs were long and touched his face wildly. He had very strong facial features, high cheek bones and a well shaped mouth and nose.

 

“Hi,” she said breathlessly, caught once again staring wide-eyed at him. One dark brow went up into his bangs and a smile crossed his face, giving her a warm feeling.

 

“I think I saw this in a movie once,” he told her with a small chuckle. She didn't move, stuck on the floor that smelled distinctly of old coffee grounds, staring up at him. He seemed surprised that she couldn't answer him and asked, “Can I get a mocha espresso?”

 

Still with the vocabulary of a four year old, she said, “Sure,” and climbed up off the floor, broken out of her daze. She could feel his eyes on her as she busied herself starting the machine and found herself looking at him out of the corner of her eye or through her bangs. He was watching her intently as she worked, not bothering to step away from the counter even as other customers came to place their orders. She was reluctant to hand him the steaming café mug of coffee, but placed it on the counter in front of him with a shy smile and quickly averted eyes.

 

When she moved on to the couple standing behind him, he made himself comfortable in a chair across the room and pulled out his laptop to do what she assumed was work. As she placed the steaming mugs and plates of pastries on a tray to deliver them to the young man and woman that had ordered them, she looked up, meeting his gaze once again as he studied her over the top of his computer. Thoughts in a jumble, she absently served the college students for more than an hour, catching his eyes every once in a while when one caught the other staring. Ayame, one of the girls that worked at the café sent her funny looks when the she saw them watching each other.

 

Kagome was at the cash register checking receipts when he placed his oversized mug on the counter next to her; his tab (that he must have received from one of the other waitresses), cash and a clean napkin under it. She looked up at his face briefly, not surprised to find him watching her intently with a smile as she rung him up. He had given her a ten and when she picked up the bill, she noticed the napkin in detail for the first time. Seven digits in black pen crawled across the surface of the soft paper square, written by a very masculine hand in a very masculine scrawl. It was a phone number and her awed mind took a moment to process it. However when she looked up to question him, he was no longer standing across the counter, but back at the chair collecting his things.

 

A minute later, she was walking to him, placing his change and receipt on the table he stood next to. The slip of paper had her hand writing in blue ink over the back, proudly displaying the numbers to her cell phone - as well as her name.

 

~*~

 

“I can't believe you gave him your number!” Yuka yelled at lunch the next day after hearing the entire story from Kagome. The short-haired girl seemed livid and Kagome couldn't figure out why. “I mean, he could be some stalker or a rapist or some weirdo - you don't even know his name Kagome! How could you give him your number?!”

 

“Yuka…” she began, prepared to explain for the fourth time that she didn't know why she gave the golden-eyed man her number. But Ayumi spoke first.

 

“Was he cute?”

 

The three other girls turned to look at her with surprise and Kagome was the first to look away as they started arguing again. She sat back against the wall of the empty hallway that they ate lunch in during the winter, picking at her pasta from the cafeteria with her plastic spork. Frankly, it was a number of things that possessed her to do what she did; starting with that weird connection that formed when they first met gazes, the warm feeling that she got when he was watching her and the fact that he had been the first one to make a move. She found it was easy to follow his lead after the smile he flashed her when he gave her his tab.

 

Something in her backpack buzzed loudly and she dug in with one hand to pull out her cell phone, which was vibrating happily. She didn't recognize the number on the screen, but answered it anyway with a hesitant “hello?”

 

“Kagome?” the voice was masculine, “It's Inuyasha. We met yesterday at the café by the university.”

 

Once he said his name, she knew who it was. It was very distinct and unusual, but it was his voice that she recalled first, so deep and gruff that it matched him perfectly. Her friends were still arguing about boys and propriety and didn't seem to notice that she was on the phone.

 

“Hold on a sec,” she told him as she stood and walked into the deserted girl's bathroom in the art building. “Okay, I can talk now.”

 

“Did I interrupt something?” he asked, amusement in his voice.

 

She giggled at his implication, “No, I'm at school. It's my lunch break.”

 

“Do you go to the UC?”

 

“No, I'm a senior at Boulder High.” She suddenly felt sad, knowing that now that he knew she was only a high school student, that there would be no relationship between them. There was a pause, where he seemed to consider the information that she had given him and she dreaded the moment that he spoke, telling her that she was too young and that it would never work out. That was the worst way that any blooming relationship could end, but she guessed that the connection that had somehow formed between them couldn't really be interpreted as a relationship.

 

“When do you turn eighteen?” he asked, surprising her and breaking the negative thoughts that were running through her mind.

 

“What?” was her startled reply as she blinked at the tiled wall opposite from where she was standing.

 

“I know you heard me, Kagome,” he told her, then repeated himself, “When do you turn eighteen?”

 

“May 19th,” she said, unsure why he had asked her that.

 

“Good, I can last four months,” he said, though it seemed like he was telling himself that more than he was telling her. “I can wait that long.”

 

“Wait that long for what?” she asked, confused.

 

He laughed, the deep, natural sound making her feel warm and tingly. She wondered what was wrong with her and why he was affecting her like this. Was it natural to feel such a strong attraction to someone you just met? And it wasn't just a physical attraction, although he was very good looking, but a connection that made her feel warm when he talked and made her want to stare into his eyes for as long as she could.

 

“Come on, Kagome,” he said, still chuckling, “Don't make me spell it out for you.”

 

“Spell what out? You're confusing me,” she told him, frowning as he began to laugh once more. “What's so funny?”

 

“You,” he said, “I can wait four months before throwing you to the ground and attacking you like an animal.”

 

The blunt statement was not what she was expecting and she could face heat up as a dark blush spread across her cheeks. “Oh,” she said, speechless as he once again started laughing at her embarrassment. In a way it told her that he was just as interested in her as she was in him and that comforted her somewhat. She wasn't the only one that could be going crazy. But at the same time, she was completely mortified by the implication of being tossed to the floor and ravaged like a heroine in a harlequin romance novel.

 

“Yes, `oh,'” he repeated, sounding very amused. “You're so innocent Kagome. Why am I not surprised?”

 

“I don't know,” she told him, “we've only just met.”

 

“Maybe,” he agreed, “but sometimes it feels much longer.” A silence lapsed between them, but it was comfortable and she spent several moments just listening to him breathe through the line. She once again began to wonder what was going on with her, why she trusted this man so much even though she'd only met him less than a day ago.

 

“What are you doing today?” he asked.

 

“Nothing really,” she told him, glancing at her watch to see how much time she had before the bell rang, “Why?”

 

“Boulder High is off of Arapahoe right? Isn't Central Park near there?”

 

“Yes,” she told him, “it's only a couple of blocks away.”

 

There was a short silence where Inuyasha seemed to be thinking. Kagome bit her lip with a bit of nervousness. What was he thinking?

 

“Do you think you could meet me there after your school lets out? Around two, right?”

 

“Yeah, I think I can,” she agreed, but her conscience was screaming in her head, sounding an awful lot like Yuka. Why had she agreed to meet him? Why was she so damned attracted to him? Why did she trust him so much? She'd only met him the day before, but something inside her continually told her that this was right, that this was okay. It said that he wouldn't hurt her.

 

“Okay, I'll see you later then,” he said. “I have to get going. My last class for today starts in about fifteen minutes. Bye Kagome.”

 

“Bye,” she bid in turn, pulling her cell phone from her ear. She stared at the screen for a few moments before storing his number into her phonebook. He would call again, she knew it, and it was better if she knew when it was him. Her parents would flip out if they knew that she was meeting a college boy after school instead of going to the café…

 

“Oh God,” she sighed, placing her face into her hands, “if they find out, they'll kill him and then ground me until I'm thirty. What was I thinking?”

 

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AN: For anyone that lives in Boulder, Colorado: I'm trying to be somewhat accurate about the places in the town, but because I don't live there full time (my dad lives in Boulder, but I'm under my mother's custody in California for most of the year) a few of the landmarks may be off. Several buildings and places (such as the Café) will be completely fictional, but others will be strait off the map.

 

For anyone that does not live in Boulder, Colorado: It's a very beautiful and intriguing college town. Great for looky-looing in cute shops and lounging in quaint restaurants. Personally, I love it.