InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ De Nouveau ❯ Noch einmal ( Chapter 4 )

Life happened again. Actually, this is the busiest season in high school theatre, so I was working for a bunch of shows, including the spring musical. I love theatre. There's so much drama to inspire me.

 

 

 

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De Nouveau

 

By SaiyanBlack

 

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Chapter Four

 

With a long suffering sigh, Kagome leaned forward onto the front counter of the café, arms stretched out and hands dangling over the opposite side. Her hair slipped over her shoulder, the low ponytail having released many of the dark strands onto her back and neck over the course of the day. The granite counter top was cool against her warm forehead and she let herself rest for a short moment while she had the time.

 

It was getting closer to the holidays, but the snow - which had come earlier than usual - was getting deeper and the air outside was getting colder. Although it was a different story in the café. Usually a warm haven in the cold months, the extreme cold outside and the added heat from the open kitchen made it even warmer. It was nice for awhile, but all the moving around she had been doing, in and out of the kitchen for the past four hours, was making her overheat.

 

“Kagome? Kagome?”

 

She pulled her head off of the counter and looked up for the voice. Behind her, Hojo, one of the cooks, was looking at her from the kitchen, a puzzled expression on his light face.

 

“Are you okay, Kagome? Do you want me to get your dad?” he asked, the puzzled look becoming one of innocent concern.

 

“No,” she said, standing up straight and stretching her arms above her head. She missed the light blush that crossed the college boy's cheeks as she did so. “I'm okay. Just hot and tired. You're probably worse off than I am, you've been in the kitchen for hours.”

 

The blush came back and she noticed it this time, watching him with a curious look as he stuttered and tripped over his words. “No, no. I'm just fine. I like cooking and the heat doesn't really bother me…that's why I roll up my sleeves like this.”

 

He raised his arms so that she could see that indeed he did have his long sleeves rolled up around his elbows. “Maybe you should roll up your sleeves too, Kagome. You would feel much cooler.”

 

She forced herself to smile and not tell the older boy that she had a short sleeved shirt on. Thanking him, she turned back to the counter just in time to see Kouga walk through the door with flurries of snow behind him. He saw her and cast one of his broad grins at her as he shrugged his heavy coat off. He stepped up to the counter and she saw that look in his blue eyes.

 

“Don't start, Kouga. You're late.”

 

“Aw, come on, Kagome,” he whined, giving her a look of mock hurt. He opened his mouth to continue, but was cut off by Hojo, who had popped his head out of the kitchen again.

 

“Oh, hey Kouga. Did you know that you're twenty-minutes late? You should get a watch with an alarm on it. You wouldn't be late so often.”

 

Kagome stifled a giggle as Kouga rolled his eyes and sighed. With one last wink to her, he picked up his jacket and walked into the back to start his shift. Ten minutes and four customers later, the door opened again, letting a gust of wintry cold air into the cozy café that ruffled the loose strands of her hair even from the other side of the room. She looked up and saw Inuyasha standing just inside the doorway, at the same time that his eyes finished scanning the room and landed on her. He smiled at her and heat immediately came to her face. She hid it and the embarrassed smile that spread across her face by busying herself with wiping down one of the tables she had just bussed.

 

She knew immediately when he was standing behind her and she looked up at him from over her shoulder. His smile had gotten wider and cockier, but the look in his amber eyes gave her goose bumps and she shivered when he leaned closer to her back.

 

“As much as I would love to say that I came to see you again, that's not why I'm here,” his voice was low and rough, making her catch her breath. After a second he let a short chuckle escape, his warm breath brushing the back of her ear. “You should breathe, Kagome. I've heard it's good for you.”

 

She let out the breath she didn't realize she was holding and sucked in another just as quickly. He laughed softly.

 

“Hey, Inuyasha!”

 

The presence at her back lessened as he turned to greet Kouga, who now sported an apron around his slim middle. With another embarrassed blush, Kagome lifted her tray off of the table and carried it to the kitchen, trying not to look behind her at the two most frustrating men in her life. She could feel his eyes on her and swore up and down that she could still feel them even after the kitchen door flipped closed behind her.

 

Hojo was in the kitchen, hand washing dishes that sat next to the sink. She set her tray down next to him, unloading the dirty dishes and throwing away the trash. No matter how much she tried, she couldn't ignore the thoughts of Inuyasha that surfaced from the back of her mind so easily. That slow smile and the way that his voice sounded when he spoke to her quietly, it was her undoing.

 

“Are you cold, Kagome?”

 

She stopped her movements and looked up at the college boy in confusion. “No… why?”

 

“You just shivered. And I noticed when you came in that you had goose bumps on your arm.”

 

He pointed it out so directly and she had to wonder just how much Hojo watched her. Frankly, it was quite frightening, now that she thought about it. Just how much did he notice?

 

“Hey Kagome?” Inuyasha called through the long window between the kitchen and the café. She looked up and saw him with his coat on, waving to her with one hand.

 

“Are you leaving?” she asked as she came out of the kitchen. He nodded and stepped closer so she had to look up to see his face. Much to her surprise, he bent forward and placed a light kiss on her forehead. When he pulled back, he had a smirk plastered across his face and an amused twinkle in his golden eyes.

 

“I'll call you later, okay? So keep your cell phone on.”

 

He stepped back and with one last wave, he pushed the door open and walked back out into the cold street. She saw him pull his collar up around his neck, covering what skin his long ponytail didn't, before he stepped off the curb and to his red truck. After a short moment, the headlights flipped on, illuminating parts of the café before he pulled out of the parking space and into traffic. Suppressing a shiver, she crossed her arms over her chest, suddenly feeling very cold and empty.

 

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“Kagome! Your cell phone is ringing!”

 

Kagome's dark head popped out of the downstairs bathroom, a bottle of nail polish in her free hand. Her father looked at her from where he sat on the couch, waving the twittering device in the air with an urgent look. She opened the door wider and walked jerkily into the living room, trying to keep her newly polished toes off of the carpet. Once the phone had been plucked from her father's fingers, she glanced at the number and immediately answered.

 

“Hello!” she chirped and started back to the bathroom, still managing to keep her toes off the floor. At the open doorway, she lost her balance and tilted to the side to regain her footing without having to put the digits down. “What am I doing? Just pampering myself. Just because I can, that's why.”

 

The rest of the conversation was lost to the man on the couch, who had watched his teenage daughter shakily close the bathroom door behind her. With a shrug, he turned back to his book, relaxing in his seat once more. He wondered, in a protective father sort of way, who the caller had been. Having a business to run, he wasn't so involved in his daughter's life as some parents, and thus didn't know a lot of her friends, but he had never even heard of her speak of someone named `Inuyasha.' It was definitely Japanese and he didn't know of any families of that nationality in town.

 

He shrugged to himself, Maybe they're new.

 

A short scream from the bathroom had him up on his feet in a heartbeat. He thundered down the short hallway and pushed the door open. Inside, his daughter was up on the toilet seat, staring at the floor with wide eyes. She had managed to keep a hold on both the phone and the bottle of nail polish in her fright, but had caught her foot on the toilet paper roll when she pulled it away from the floor.

 

When he looked for the offender, he let his heart fall back into its place behind his breastbone and let out a short laugh. Kagome didn't think it was so funny.

 

“Daddy!” she whined, pulling her feet up closer to her body, “This is not a laughing matter! Just kill it!”

 

Diligently, he took a piece of toilet paper and caught the arachnid between his fingers. The little black thing struggled, waving its long, sinewy legs in an attempt to catch onto something. Kagome shrieked and turned her face away.

 

“Daddy!!”

 

He laughed again and turned, walking out of the bathroom with the paper and creature in hand. He wouldn't kill the poor thing; after all, it was just looking for a warm place to get out of the snow. Behind him, he could hear Kagome talking on the phone again.

 

“It was all wiggly and gross! Ew.” There was a pause, then her voice rose in pitch, “What do you mean you would have put it on me?! You're just as mean as he is, Inuyasha! You guys are supposed to protect me, not purposely scare me! Stupid men.”

 

He opened the garage door and walked down the few steps onto the concrete floor. By the water heater, he crouched down and let the paper fall, releasing the little eight-legged terrorist that had sent his daughter screaming back into the wild. It scurried away, finding a dark, warm hiding spot somewhere among the copper pipes. When he returned to the house, the bathroom door was open and he couldn't hear Kagome's voice. She must have hung up.

 

He leaned in the doorway, watching as she removed the damaged nail polish from the foot that had caught the toilet paper roll in her panic. She looked up after a moment, having caught site of him from the corner of her eye. She smiled and he returned it, his heart warming.

 

“The fiend has been disposed of,” he joked and was rewarded with his daughter's laugh. In a lot of ways she reminded him of his mother, and at times, her mother, but she was always a little ray of sunshine and laughter in his life.

 

“Thank you, Daddy,” she said, giving him a wide smile.

 

“You're welcome,” he returned and was about to leave the room, but stopped and turned back to her. “Kagome, before you go out with this guy, introduce him to your mother and me.”

 

She looked a little guilty, but nodded. “I will, I promise. I'll introduce him when he comes to pick me up tomorrow. We're going to the Art Center over on 13th. There's a Japanese culture exhibit there this week.”

 

One dark eyebrow went up, “You're going to a culture exhibit?”

 

She blushed and looked down at her hand, continuing to paint her toe nails a subtle pink color. “Well, it was his idea. He's really into martial arts and swords and stuff. There's supposed to be old weapons on display.”

 

His eyes went wide as he considered what she had said, “Wow. That's genius. Your grandfather would approve of this guy.”

 

“Dad!”

 

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This ended up being just a filler chapter. I needed to set up the next part of the story and wanted to get something out while I had the time.