InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Decisions ❯ Valentines Surprise ( Chapter 7 )

Chapter 7: Valentines Surprise

What is she doing? Sesshoumaru asked himself as he heard the sounds of his young ward crashing through the penthouse like a wrecking ball. It sounded like she was remodelling the goddamn place or destroying it. He turned in his bed the grey satin sheets getting tangled around his waist to look at the clock next to his bed. It was 10:00 am on a Sunday. A Sunday for Christ's sake, he was supposed to be able to sleep in until at least eleven on Sunday's.

He got out of the bed and changed into a pair of black linen trousers and a white linen shirt and tramped out into the corridor and followed her scent into the kitchen.

She was sat in her night dress and a pair of orange shorts in front of the cupboard he kept the cooking pots in. The cupboard was at present empty and she was surrounded in a sea of kitchen implements.

“Rin, what are you doing?” he asked wearily flicking a switch on the coffee machine and letting it whir into life; he had a feeling he was going to need a cup soon.

“I'm looking for glitter glue” she said frowning at the mess she had created but not remorsefully instead it was more accusatory.

Of all the answers he had been expecting this was not one of them. Jeez why him? And what the hell is glitter glue?

“Why?” he asked running a clawed hand through his silver hair and trying to remember to keep his temper. He was not in the best of moods when awoken from his slumber. Besides that, what person looked for glitter glue in a cupboard that's primary use was to store cooking utensils? He had no idea what glitter glue was but he was pretty sure it wasn't used in the kitchen.

“I'm making a Valentines Card” she told him earnestly

“Why?” he repeated

“It's February 14th” she told him scathingly rolling her eyes “Don't tell me you didn't know”

She was picking up mannerisms from Kagome he realised sighing. “I forgot” he said truthfully. He had never celebrated the corporate designed holiday and there had never been a woman whom he loved to give anything to.

“You should give Higurashi-sensei something” she told him sternly

He chose to ignore her “Who are you making one for?” he asked curiously

“Ranmaru-kun” she told him

“The Kelpie?” he asked in shock; she liked the water demon?

“En” she smiled “and then we can take it to his house after”

Wait, what? She wanted to take the card to his house. Then that meant he'd be visiting Kagome's house as well right? He wondered why he was anxious at such an idea. Then something occurred to him that made him slightly disappointed even though he tried to keep such ludicrous thoughts from his mind. Such thoughts made him sound like a besotted teenager and he was Sesshoumaru Taisho goddamn it.

“We don't know where they live” he patiently explained

“Yes we do” she told him going over to where she had left her school bag on one of the breakfast bar stools and pulled out a scrap of paper from the front pocket. “See?” she presented him with a piece of paper that was crumpled slightly and smelled of strawberries.

“Hn” he said

“So you need to help me find the glitter glue” she said

“This Sesshoumaru has no idea what glitter glue is” he told her dryly

“Oh dear” she said as they looked at each other “looks like we need to go shopping again”

Shopping? Surely she didn't mean that he was going back to that filthy supermarket she had dragged him to before.

From the determined expression on her features as she gave him his wallet he knew his fears to be true.

Kagome was curled up in her favourite comfy chair in her living room with a dreadfully cliqued romance novel in her hands and a blanket around her waist. Ayame had invited her out for drinks to celebrate being single on the one day of the year when single people realised how single they really were. She had declined and deigned to spend a night in with Ranmaru.

She had been wondering recently what exactly `that Sesshoumaru' meant by his parting remark at the park, but her brain didn't seem to be functioning very well and so she had shoved it into the compartment of her brain labelled `check again in three months' and moved on. Sort of.

He was laid out on the living room floor in front of her on his belly with his head propped in his hands watching a movie on TV. She had been told the title of said movie but she had already forgotten it. It seemed to involve a lot of smashing of cars though.

“Ano... Okasan” he said gaining her attention

“What?” she asked gazing at him over the rims of her spectacles

“Why aren't you doing anything on Valentine's day?” he asked his eyes glancing at the bouquet of flowers she had received this morning and haphazardly thrown into a vase.

“Because I don't believe in it” she said “It reduces people like Ayame-chan to wrecks”

“But that Hojo man asked you out didn't he?” he asked glancing at the bouquet of flowers that he had given her again

“That he did” she agreed

“So why don't you go?” he asked

“He's not my type” she told him. Hojo was nice and friendly and smiled at Ranmaru whenever he saw him but she sometimes thought he was a little too nice. She had grown up with Inuyasha as a best friend and Miroku as her resident pervert; she wasn't comfortable around guys that were really nice. It felt like she was being tricked or something. She knew that this made her sound kind of crazy but so what?

“I've seen guys ask you out” he said “but you hardly ever say yes”

“Mmm” she said chewing on a strand of her hair “I'm picky”

“Good” he muttered in a low tone, he didn't want his mother to end up and warped as his Aunt Ayame was. He spotted her chewing her hair and threw a magazine at her “Don't” he scolded

She chuckled as the roles were reversed between them.

“Hai, hai” she said rolling her eyes flippantly “What about you did you send a Valentines?”

He smirked in an Inuyasha reminiscent way “I don't send them, I get them”

She creased up laughing “My son, the little girl killer”

“Okasan” he rolled his eyes “I'm not going to kill them”

She grinned “I didn't mean it like that”

“I know” he smirked

She threw the magazine at him “Don't be pedantic”

“Huh?” he was confused now as her vocabulary flew over his head.

“Don't worry” she shook her head.

The door bell buzzed and they both looked at each other.

“Are you expecting someone?” she asked

“Are you?” Ranmaru asked “maybe Hojo hasn't given up?”

“I'm not that desirable” she scoffed

They both looked at the door and concentrated.

“I sense demon” Kagome sounded surprised and screwed up her eyes as she tried to recognise it “Oh, it's Sesshoumaru”

“I smell Rin” Ranmaru told her

“Are we having a joint hallucination?” she asked

“Okasan I'm seven” he said as her vocabulary went straight over his head again.

“Oops” she giggled “shall we see what they want?”

“Yeah” he grinned excited

She pulled back her front door to reveal a very harassed but casually dressed Sesshoumaru with a hyper Rin at his side bobbing up and down on her toes in excitement.

Even when dressed casually Sesshoumaru was enough of a bishounnen to make any woman swoon. Kagome carefully kept her mind out of the gutter and thanked god that she was wearing her half way decent black skinny jeans and emerald green wraparound dress shirt. This guy sprung up at the most inopportune moments; namely when she looked like something the cat had dragged in.

“Happy valentine's day!” Rin cheered

“What's that?” Ranmaru asked looking at the card barely concealed behind her back

She presented it to him with a flourish “It's for you” she declared. It was a huge pink card obviously hand decorated and cut into the shape of a heart. It was adorned with glitter glue and sparkles and seemed to be the half the size of Rin herself. Kagome inspected the art with teacher's eyes and found it adorable.

Ran looked at her and raised an eyebrow “You just wanted to see me transform” he said shrewdly

She gasped as he figured out her cunning plan “How'd you know?” she asked

“It is a hundred years too early for you to be smarter than me” he told her rolling his eyes again

She looked disheartened and he realised he had upset her “Come on” he grabbed her hand and dragged her into the living room “you can choose any movie to watch”

“Really?” she asked happy again and Ranmaru smirked at how simple minded she was.

“I think that means you're coming in” Kagome pointed out gazing at the harassed Yokai as he stood just outside their flat.

“Hn” he said stepping past her into the small sparsely furnished and clean flat.

“I've only seen you look like that once before” she said gesturing for him to sit at the kitchen table “And that was in the supermarket”

He groaned and leaned his head on the table. He had not had a good day and he was lucky that she was here now; her scent was all over the apartment and was soothing to his frayed nerves.

“I was going to offer you coffee” she giggled “but I get the feeling you could use something a little stronger”

He sighed; that sounded good. Maybe with the combination of her scent and alcohol he could stop reminiscing about his catastrophic day.

He heard her pop the cork out of a bottle and then a glass slid to him across the worn table. He picked it up and sniffed it curiously. He knew this wine, it was a good year and not cheap.

“Miroku gave it to me” she said sitting opposite him and propping her head in her left hand and leaning her left elbow on the table whilst running her fingers up and down the stem of her own glass “He has a thing about wine and it's what I always get from him on every occasion.”

“Miroku” Sesshoumaru mused, the name was familiar

“You met him on New Year's Eve” she told him “he was the one who kicked Inuyasha”

“Ah” he said picking up his glass and taking a sip.

She laughed softly and this noise warmed him too. He was too damn exhausted to second guess his actions today and so he just went with it.

“What happened?” she asked

“This Sesshoumaru made a Valentines card” he sounded tortured and she had to fight the impulse to laugh. “This Sesshoumaru learnt what glitter glue is and this Sesshoumaru went to a Supermarket again”

“Oh dear” she said standing and walking around so she was behind him and quickly and nimbly she began to massage his broad and tense shoulders. She was very good at this due to a lifetime of helping her grandfather with his back problems. She had to admit though; Sesshoumaru's shoulders were a lot more fun to massage.

He started as the strange female began to touch and massage his shoulders. What the hell? But then he began to relax; his head falling back onto the table as her capable fingers helped relieve the tension in his shoulders. Hmm, it felt quite nice.

She fought to stop herself from sniggering as he slumped onto her table. The Yokai had been humbled by a simple shoulder rub? If this was all it took to get him to melt she would have done it a long time ago. She almost laughed aloud as a new thought occurred to her; what if he started purring? After all he was an Inu Yokai was he not?

Or were dogs not capable of such things as purring?

There was a smash from the lounge and she jumped a mile and turned to go into the living room to see what the hell had happened.

As she stopped touching him the Inu Yokai brought his head off the table angrily and grabbed her wrist stopping her from reaching the room.

They both stared at their hands. Kagome was trying to figure out why he was stopping her and Sesshoumaru was staring at his arm like it had moved without his consent.

“Okasan” Ranmaru came into the kitchen completely oblivious to their current situation “Rin broke Ojiisan's vase”

Rin appeared behind him looking heartbroken with tears in the corners of her eyes.

Sesshoumaru dropped Kagome's wrist so fast you'd swear it had burned him or something.

***

“I'm really sorry” Rin said chewing on her bottom lip as Kagome wrapped the broken pieces of vase in newspaper and threw them out.

“I told you Rin-chan” she smiled at the little girl “it is fine I swear” she put her hand on her heart solemnly.

Rin smiled a little disheartened. Ranmaru hit her softly around the head with a sofa cushion. “Okasan said it's okay so it's okay” he told her sternly

“Go back to the movie” Kagome prompted smiling warmly

The two children tramped back into the lounge and she sat back down across from Sesshoumaru.

He was desperately trying to pretend he hadn't grabbed her hand and he figured that he would put the old saying into practise `the best defence is a good offence'.

“This Sesshoumaru will buy you a new one” he told her

She gave a small smile “It's fine”

“But it belonged to your Otosan” he said “surely it was precious to you”

“He's dead” she shrugged “so it doesn't matter anymore”

“If he's dead then surely the vase would be more important to you” he was confused as seemed to be his constant state around the small female.

She smiled a little sadly “It's just a thing” she said smiling “it's not like I'm throwing away the memory of my father. I'll always have that so I don't mind”

He was uncomfortable about the sadness writ on her pretty face. “This Sesshoumaru will still replace it”

“It's fine” she insisted snapping out of her bizarre depression; she hardly ever got depressed and she preferred to be cheerful. By her rules if you went through life happy then you wouldn't miss anything. “I have other vases” she gestured at the vase full of flowers next to them.

“Hn” he glowered at the flowers as she took a waxy petal in between her two fingers and rubbed it absentmindedly. He caught a new scent when she did that. The scent of an unknown human male. “Were those a gift?”

She glanced at them and then shrugged “My neighbour dropped them off this morning” she was dismissive

“On Valentine's day?” he found himself curious as to the reasons behind the flowers and it annoyed him. But what annoyed him even more was the fact that she may have a human male competing for her attentions. He didn't know why this annoyed him and he wasn't going to go into that right now.

“En” she said sipping her wine

“Is he your mate?” he asked narrowing his golden eyes at her as she surveyed him over the rim of her glass.

She spluttered on her wine in shock. She had forgotten how such things worked in Yokai terms and the phrase `mate' sounded a little obscure to her human brain. But she calmed down when she realised it was really a simple and innocent question.

“No he isn't my mate or my boyfriend” she said “he's just being friendly to a single mother with nowhere to go on Valentine's day except clubbing with her equally single best friend or staying in with her son”

Oops. She sort of realised how bitter she had sounded and blushed slightly.

Sesshoumaru had no idea as to the reasoning behind the blush on her cheeks but he had to admit it made her look even prettier. He wondered for a moment if thinking of the man who had given her the bouquet had made her blush and quashed the thought as if it were an irritable bug.

“You will receive a new vase” he decided

“No matter how much I tell you not to?” she asked

“Yes”

“Bastard” she remarked

“A Yokai such as this Sesshoumaru is never indebted to anyone” he said

“I don't want any goddamned vase!” she shouted realised she probably sounded like a bratty child

“Okasan” Ranmaru said standing on a stool in the kitchen to reach the cupboard where she kept the cookies “You shouldn't say a swear”

“Sorry” she was abashed at being caught swearing by her child

The small Yokai shook his head at her achieved his aim of the cookie jar and walked from the room.

Kagome blinked “Hey, where do you think you're going with the ENTIRE cookie jar?” she asked sprinting after him

“Busted” he giggled and raced away from his mother

Sesshoumaru did something he was doing more and more around the woman; he chuckled into his glass.

Kagome walked into her office the next day and dropped her proposals for the new computer suite in shock.

Sat on her desk was a huge crystal vase that probably weighed as much as she did. But that wasn't all; inside the vase were two dozen redder than red roses. There was a card.

She flipped it over and read the back.

`This Sesshoumaru is never indebted to anyone.'

Her first thought was: Jeez he even writes in third person

Her second was: I've never gotten roses before, it's kind of romantic

Her third was more verbal.

“Bastard” she said shaking her head. He'd won this battle but there was a war brewing.

A/N: once again I do not own Inuyasha and I make no profit from this. Thanks again to Karen-chan for help in proof reading.