InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Dystopian Story of Lovers ❯ Inaction ( Chapter 9 )

 

 

 

Inaction

.

.

.

“… I have not spoken for a long time, and together with my tongue

Love has moved away also …”

(taken from the poem `One and a Half' by Ales Steger, translated by Peter Richards)

 

.

.

.

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or the poem above

.

.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

.

.

 

Deciding on the mint floral eyelet silk dress with elasticated-cuffed balloon sleeves and contrast grosgrain empire band, which came to a self-tie on the back, to wear for the evening, she took it out of the rack in the walking closet. The deep V-neck of the dress complimented her long graceful neck and high bust attractively. Searching for the perfect sandals to go with the mid-thigh length dress, she opted for a pair of nude satin open-toe strappy slingbacks with 90mm high heels and a buckle fastening strap at ankle. She then rummaged the content of her jewelry box to find matching accessories. Putting on the gold long hammered loop earrings with chalky jade hanging stones and slipping the gold tone textured hoop bangle with a heart locket to her delicate wrist, she was finally ready for the night.

 

Checking her reflection from an ornate body mirror on the corner of the room, her eyes lighted at the end effect of the whole day primping. She ambled away to the living room with her puff-curled high ponytail bouncing merrily from left to right.

 

She sat down on a large-sized armchair and clasped her hands together on her lap in a solemn waiting-mode posture. The nude color make up, she had put on, accentuated her stunning features. Eyeing the clock at the wall impatiently, she started to chew on the cuticles of her fingers with the jade-colored nails.

 

When the clock struck seven, the doorbell rang. She got up and started to dash into the corridor without forgetting to snatch her handbag on the way, stopped before a mirror and checked her appearance, and only then did she finally open the door.

 

Standing before her, looking like one of the ideal runway-boys, it seemed that tonight he had shed his black business suit for a summer attire consisted of pale grey seersucker three button notched lapelled sportcoat with matching casual cotton pants, classic fit tan Irish linen sportshirt underneath, and shiny pale grey leather Oxford shoes. The whole outfit highlighted his short shaggy silver hair and sun-kissed skin, but most of all it contrastingly darkened the color of his eyes, making them more humane and irresistibly suave. Pale colors had never looked so good before on a man.

 

His beautiful amber eyes assessed the vision before him in appreciation, and that simple reaction made many hours of primping worth it.

 

“Are you ready?”

 

Kagome nodded. “Would you like to have something to drink before we go out?”

 

“No, thank you.” He extended his hand towards her, and she gracefully accepted.

 

He led her to the car and opened the door for her.

 

“No Bugatti today?” she remarked as he entered the driver's seat of the black Lexus LS 460.

 

“No.” He didn't think he could handle Bugatti and her tonight, making a mental note to keep his eyes on hers in conversation instead of on her visible, very appealing legs.

 

“So where are we going?”

 

“First we go eat.”

 

After a couple of minutes waiting for a continuation, she realized that he was finished speaking. “And where is that, or is it still a surprise?”

 

He glanced at her for a moment, and then his eyes went back to the road. “It's in Ginza.”

 

She had to get use to his one-sentence-answer, it seemed. With Sesshoumaru being not quite a conversational individual, Kagome decided to take up the role.

 

“Great weather we have today, isn't it? The night sky is clear and speckled with stars.” Yes, definitely an icebreaker

 

But fortunately for her, Sesshoumaru did appreciate her effort, so he graced her with a reply. “You've seen a lot of starry nights before when you were living with your grandmother in the country, is that true?”

 

Kagome was surprised. “How did you know?”

 

“I did some background research, do you mind?” He stated it as if it was naturally acceptable to do so.

 

“No, of course not,” she almost stuttered. “Did you find anything bad?” She looked like she was going to cry.

 

“No,” Sesshoumaru answered her softly. “Look, you don't have to worry about Kahara Misako, okay?”

 

Kagome nodded, but the misery was slightly evident on her expression. “What else does it say about me?”

 

“You had to wait in the hospital for two weeks after your mother had abandoned you there. Then one day your grandmother, who had been given notice of your existence by a concerned nurse, came and took you away to live with her. You were a considerate child who possessed a sweet disposition, and the neighbors remembered you as an exceptionally beautiful child,” he answered smilingly.

 

“Oh,” Kagome blushed, “They did?”

 

“Yes, they also said you had an obsession with frogs as a child.”

 

“Oh that,” she blushed deeper, “That's not true. It's just something I picked up from a story when I was very little. You know, to start an orchestra of —,” she was too embarrassed to continue.

 

“But I didn't cage them or something like that. I just kept them in my room and tried to take care of them the best I could until one day my grandmother found out about my pet collection and the slightly slimy interior of the room. I know,” she said as she dared a glance at his expression, “It was disgusting, right? Well, I did learn my lesson after that.”

 

“What punishment did your grandmother give you?” Sesshoumaru was curious.

 

“Oh, the usual; she locked me up in the cellar for five days without food and water,” she answered casually. Glimpsing at his shocked expression, she burst out laughing. “I was just joking. We didn't even have a cellar.”

 

“That was not very nice,” Sesshoumaru commented, tightlipped, but in that moment he was actually biting his lips to hold a smile.

 

“I know, sorry,” she said without a slightest bit of regret in her voice, “You see, my grandmother tended to be very strict with my mother. She regretted it of course the day her daughter ran away from home, and in a way she tried to make it up to me by spoiling me. She never raised her voice to me. She didn't even allow a slightest frown on her face in times when I had badly misbehaved.”

 

“In the morning after the frog incident, she built me a small pond in the front yard so that I could put all my pets there. They of course scattered away all over the neighborhood after they had been set free instead of staying in the pond. I cried the whole day then. My grandmother felt so bad about it that she went from one neighbor to another to seek out all that frogs.” Her eyes were becoming misty and her voice slightly nasal.

 

“She went home very late that night with her clothes all muddied. I was so angry and scared for her when she was finally at home that I locked myself in my room and refused to speak to her. I was such a spoiled brat back then. She should've been mad at me for putting her through so much trouble, but instead she stopped before my room and told me she was sorry that she couldn't find my frogs.” She held the handbag in her lap in tight grips that the skin of her knuckles turned chalky white.

 

“I'm sorry,” she suddenly said, “Some date, I make.”

 

“No, it's not your fault. I shouldn't have brought up the subject.”

 

“Okay then. Let's move on to another topic of conversation where we don't feel like killing ourselves.” She smiled at him nervously.

 

“We're here.” He stopped in front of a building.

 

The moment they stepped into the restaurant, they were greeted by a hostess who led them down the corridor into a separate room. The room was minimally furnished, yet there was a sense of meticulousness in the combination of the setting.

 

Both took their seats in front of each other, and a silent pause ensued.

 

“You were not how you describe yourself,” Sesshoumaru finally commented.

 

“Oh?” Kagome raised her brow. “And how would you know what kind of person I was?”

 

“As far as I could gather, you were said to be a lovable child who had time and again attacks of strange antics.” She blushed prettily. “But you weren't spoiled.”

 

“They're neighbors. They didn't know how mean-tempered I was when I was at home,” she argued.

 

“And it's not true about your grandmother having never lost her temper with you.”

 

“They told you about that?” Kagome's eyes widened.

 

“More like they told the person, I had hired, about it.”

 

“I can't believe they still remember it.” Kagome shook her head, annoyed.

 

“Well, I would too if I was one of the search party that went looking for you when you were missing for two days.”

 

She blushed deeper.

 

“Did your grandmother enjoy the fish you had caught for her on the side of the neighbor town's river?”

 

“They told me the fishes were bigger on the end stream of the river!” For a moment Kagome forgot herself and exclaimed childishly.

 

Sesshoumaru tried to hold back his smile and failed. “They told me that the moment your grandmother saw you walking towards her with a limp, she started to scream at you like a banshee for giving her a mortal scare.”

 

Kagome smiled amidst her embarrassment. “That's true. I remembered being awfully scared of her anger.”

 

“But you were happy?” Sesshoumaru shook his head, confused at her change of mood.

 

“Yes,” she said vigorously, “Because after that we stopped being polite to each other, and I truly felt that she,” her tone of voice went softer, “Finally accepted me.”

 

“And as a child, you felt all this?”

 

“Yes, of course. A child is more sensitive than an adult. She or he will know if one accepted them or not. I mean, how were you when you were a child?”

 

Slightly taken aback by the turn of the question, Sesshoumaru tried to evade the question. “Today is all about you.”

 

“But I'm not alone, am I? We're in this date together in case you haven't noticed,” she pointed out teasingly.

 

“I'm not comfortable discussing about my past personal experience.”

 

Kagome was still looking at him with big expectant eyes, waiting for him to continue.

 

“And that is all there is to it,” he finished.

 

She looked disappointed for a moment, and then she whispered conspiratorially, “You're not playing the `mysterious' card, are you?”

 

“I'm not playing any cards,” he replied defensively.

 

“Then spill.”

 

And he was still stubbornly silent.

 

“You were a silent child, a serious one. You always had a strong sense of justice but were smart enough not to get involved, not because you lacked of courage, but because you thought that it was a waste of time. Adults were intimidated by you, and children wouldn't befriend you. You acted of course like you didn't care, but actually all you wanted to do was to run around under the sun with the little girl that had bewitched you with her melodic, absolutely infectious laugh. And all in all you discovered love when you were seven.”

 

Sesshoumaru was speechless.

 

Kagome was looking at him with amusement in her eyes. “Was I actually right?”

 

“Eight,” he softly answered.

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“I was eight, not seven.”

 

Her smile was frozen on her face. She felt a small twist of pain in her heart. Suddenly she didn't want to know anymore, yet she never wanted to speculate anymore as well. So amidst wanting to fully understand and to be ignorant, she dropped her smile and willingly took her chance. “You want to talk about it?”

 

“Why don't you tell me in your words how I was as a child, and I would correct you if you make a factual mistake.”

 

She couldn't decide if he was being sarcastic or genuine.

 

“I'm sorry,” she said a little heartbrokenly, “I didn't mean to be intrusive.”

 

He felt like a jerk. “You weren't.”

 

And right at that moment the food came. They then ate in silence. Kagome was thinking that this was all somehow just a mistake and if the night was going to end after they finished their dinner when he suddenly spoke up.

 

“You were right. I was like that when I was a child. I still probably am.”

 

“And the little girl?” she asked tentatively, “Who was she?”

 

“My wife.”

 

To say she was surprised was an understatement. “You have a wife?” she asked quietly, fearing for the worst.

 

“I had a wife.”

 

She quickly looked at him, but he was evading her gaze.

 

“I'm sorry,” she said genuinely, “What happened?”

 

“She was very sick.”

 

“Were you married long?”

 

“She died in our first year of marriage, but I had known her for a long time.”

 

“She was your best friend,” she supplied understandingly, “The one who truly understood you.”

 

“Yes, she was all that.” He sighed heavily.

 

“What do you mostly remember about her?” she asked softly.

 

He shook his head vehemently. “It was a long time ago. I couldn't possibly —”

 

“Besides her laugh, what more do you remember?” she interrupted him gently.

 

He gave her a hard stare. “Everything, I remember everything about her.”

 

“It wouldn't be so bad, you know, to talk about it. It might help,” she suggested.

 

“Would it?” he frowningly asked, annoyed and furious. “Would it help me? Or do you just want to appease your curiosity?”

 

Kagome looked at him sadly. “I would never ask questions like that for such petty reasons.”

 

“Really, you don't? Of course not, you rather speculate frivolously, I suppose,” he commented sneeringly, “In the end, you're just one silly, spoiled girl.”

 

She looked fiercely at him for a moment, and then her manner turned aloof. “This is a mistake.” She stood up and grabbed her purse, and because she was very much hurt and couldn't decide at that moment if she was being silly or not, she put down thirty thousand yen (*) worth of bills on the table to pay for her dinner.

 

“Sit down, Higurashi,” Sesshoumaru commanded threateningly.

 

“I've taken enough orders and threats in my life, Mr. Inoue. I may not be faultless, but I have never done anything to hurt others intentionally, and I expect others to behave the same. You can get defensive on your own, I don't care, but the thing is you had gone your way to investigate my life without asking me how I felt about it, bringing up personal matters that I might not wish to discuss but willingly did, and here you are insulting me for the things you yourself have inflicted upon me.”

 

“And I am truly sorry about your wife. You should've known by now that I would never fake sympathy, or I don't know what qualities in me that's worth courting in your eyes. From this conversation, I could only gather that you probably had liked me for the wrong reason, so I'm going to set things straight from now on. This relationship is a mistake.”

 

Twice she had walked out on him. But now instead of feeling desperate like the first time he had felt when she had threatened to disappear from his life, he felt angry.

 

`Mistake,' he mulled over the word again and again in his head. So this was what she thought of him, he reflected furiously. After all that he had done for her, she just regarded him as a stupid blunder.

 

Suddenly he heard soft tapping of rain from the little garden adjacent to their room. The sound grew louder, but he stubbornly stayed seated even though his inside was screaming at him to move. He had done enough chasing in his life. This was not how the course supposed to be. It wasn't supposed to be this difficult. She was supposed to remember immediately and they would fall back to the life he had once had with her.

 

The yen bills on the table caught his eyes. `Silly girl,' he mustered. The bills were probably all she had had with her at the moment. She was going to catch a cold from walking in the rain.

 

He was still reluctant to catch up with her, ignoring that a relative long time had passed since she had left. Of course, she had been half-right about what she had said, and she certainly hadn't been a fake like he had rudely accused her to be. She had been brave, sweet, and kind, and most of all her justified anger was downright admirable. During the conversation, her expression had been attractively animated, and she was too damn delicious when she was angry. When he really thought about it, he realized that she had been fully right.

 

The cracking sound of the thunder jarred him into movement.

 

~*~

 

She cursed the rain and all the arrogant youkais in the world. Her anger made her forget about the cold, the furious rain, and her blinding vision of the road because of all the heavy spattering.

 

People were rushing on the street in search of a shelter. In their haste, one of them knocked Kagome off balance as she was walking in the opposite direction. She fell on her knees. The passerby immediately helped her up and asked her if she was alright. She nodded weakly, ignoring her trembling knee. Before he went off, heading to the shelter, he offered his help, but Kagome politely refused him and kept on walking ahead.

 

She shouldn't feel this miserable, she knew. After all she had known him only for a while, and for a while she had considered to take his outrageous offer of courtship. Everything had happened in a quite short period of time.

 

Yet time wasn't as essential as it seemed to be, and everything didn't have to happen for a reason. So she was lost once again in her life.

 

She halted before a taxi stop and searched for some money in her purse. Finding none, it came to her mind that the yen bills she had thrown on the table had been all the money she had brought with her. She cursed her luck and trampled further in the heavy rain until the treacherous heel of her slingback broke.

 

Kagome, now completely soaked, stared at her sandal stupidly. She wanted to cry, but she could only laugh helplessly. There went the twenty-five thousand yen sandals.

 

She looked to her right to find a shelter on the entryway of a dark building. She walked limply to the vacated spot. Watching the heavy onslaught of the rain against the pavement, she could now physically sense that she was terribly cold. Rubbing down her exposed frozen skin, she crouched down, hugging her bended legs.

 

~*~

 

Sesshoumaru cursed the rain and all the silly girls in the world, who couldn't resist a good storm off.

 

He should've found her hours ago if his nose wasn't rendered to ineffectiveness by this stupid rain. So he ran around the nearby streets, searching for invisible traces on the rain-washed pavement, which turned out to be as unproductive as it had sounded. Some streets, he had even gone over more than twice. He groaned helplessly; she was really making it difficult for him this time to find her.

 

He considered the idea of going to her apartment to check if she made it home despite the rain but quickly doubted the probability of the speculation.

 

Then he sighted her. Crouching down on the entry way of a building, her bony knees protruding vulnerably from her position, her head buried in the crook of her elbow, all in all it made his anger lessen a bit, but only a bit.

 

“Didn't you see me going up and down this street for the past hour!?” He seldom lost his temper over such trivialities. He suddenly knew how Kagome's grandmother had had to feel the day Kagome had been reported missing.

 

Kagome looked up sleepily. Her face was pasty, and the flush of her lips was, though endearing, dangerously indicating a high temperature.

 

He was in front of her in a flash. “Are you alright?” he asked worriedly as he put the palm of his hand against her temple. “You're burning up!” he registered in alarm.

 

Kagome fended off his hand weakly. “Leave me alone,” she warned drowsily.

 

Ignoring her, Sesshoumaru gathered her form in his arms. “I'll get you home now, okay, sweetheart?” The endearment just rolled off his tongue before he could stop it.

 

But Kagome seemed to be past hearing him in her condition as she whimpered in his arms. “I have no home,” she said pitifully.

 

“Your home's with me,” he replied resolutely.

 

She nodded and snuggled closer against his chest. Holding her in his arm, he tried his best to shield her from the rain. Finally arriving at his car, he transferred her to the passenger seat and lowered the seat down for her. He went around the car and climbed on his seat.

 

As he tucked away a stray lock from her temple, he found that his hands seemed reluctant to leave her. Even though he knew that he had to rush back home and get her in the dry, he couldn't fight the urge to watch her. Then she whimpered, and he lost it. He leaned towards her and first kissed her temple, the heated skin warming his lips. He moved down and finally captured her soft, burning lips. Never in his life had he felt so alive like he did now.

 

~*~

 

He arrived before his manor house shortly after. The gate opened automatically and he drove through the lane leading to the house.

 

He entered the house carrying her in his arms. Kaede hastened to approach him.

 

“Is there something wrong!?” she asked him in alarm. “Who is this girl, Sesshoumaru-sama? Is she alright?”

 

Sesshoumaru bared Kagome's face towards his housekeeper. She inhaled sharply.

 

“It's she,” she registered with an almost sad tone. “Give her to me. I'll take care of her,” she pried Kagome from his hold gently.

 

Sesshoumaru hesitated for a moment, but the aged housekeeper had already transferred his burden in her support. An unfamiliar sense of emptiness crept inside him to have her taken away from him.

 

“She has a high temperature. I'm going to get her out of these wet clothes and prepare a herbed bath for her. You should change your clothes as well, Sesshoumaru-sama. I will send her to you the moment she gains her consciousness.”

 

She then disappeared around the corner, taking Kagome with her. He looked briefly after them and then went to his room to take a shower and change into fresh clothing.

 

Walking up and down in his room impatiently, he pondered of his next move as he waited for Kagome to be returned to him. Should he apologize first? Or should he just conduct himself as usual as if nothing had happened? He decided for the latter.

 

Two hours had passed since he last saw her. He wondered what had taken so long, so he went out of his room in search for her. He detected her scent coming from a guest room down the hall along with the scent of his old housekeeper. He could hear a soft humming of an old nursery song from the room.

 

He opened the door quietly and found a bathed and dried Kagome, dressed in his pajamas, sleeping peacefully in the bed. Kaede was running her fingers against Kagome's warm temple, smoothing her tangled pony.

 

“So did it all go as he planned?” asked Kaede softly, acknowledging his silent presence.

 

Sesshoumaru raised his brow in curiosity. “Do you know who she is?”

 

Kaede smiled softly. “I know that Inuyasha held a deep fondness for this girl when I first met the both of them. That silly boy …” She shook her head in pity.

 

“It didn't,” Sesshoumaru gave her his late answer.

 

“I suppose not. He wasn't certainly planning of falling for her.”

 

A twist of jealous emotion entered his heart. “But he wasn't.”

 

“Come now, Sesshoumaru-sama. You used to be one of the most perceptive people I've ever known, inheriting the trait from your father.”

 

“I don't need anyone to judge me, old woman.” He stepped closer to the side of the bed, focusing solely on Kagome.

 

“Poor girl …” Kaede turned to him and looked up pleadingly. “You will be good to her, won't you, if she'll have you?”

 

Sesshoumaru ignored her and proceeded to retrieve Kagome into his arms.

 

“She was awakened when I dried her hair and called me Obaa-chan,” she commented in a sad tone, effectively stopping Sesshoumaru on his track. “Does she still have anyone in this world, Sesshoumaru-sama?”

 

“She has me. I will be all she would ever need,” he answered confidently.

 

~*~

 

Sesshoumaru laid her down gently on his bed. Her soft-layered waist length hair spread beautifully on the pillow framing her adorable features. Her long thick lashes fluttered softly above her cheeks as she mumbled incomprehensibly in her sleep. He sat beside her on the bed and contented himself with watching her sleep. He ran a finger across her porcelain-smooth cheek, tracing the delicate structure of her jaw, following the line of her high eyebrows. His finger felt the softness of her flushed full lips, lingered there for a moment, and then continued down to caress the skin of her throat, fitting the tip of his finger in the hollow at the base of her neck.

 

She snuggled deeply into the pillow, rubbing her left cheek against the soft material; an action that made the loose collar of the pajama shifted, exposing her right shoulder. Sesshoumaru inhaled sharply. His hand was burning against her skin. She was just so warm and inviting. He leaned forward and allowed himself to breathe her nearness, hear the rhythm of her pulse. Suddenly her eyes fluttered open.

 

She looked at him in confusion; her mind was trying to grasp the current situation. She then remembered what had happened. Narrowing her eyes at him, she tried weakly to get up from the bed only to have him pinning her back to the bed.

 

“Don't get up yet,” he told her gently.

 

“Get away from me,” she hissed.

 

He sighed. “I'm sorry.”

 

She shook her head. “No, you're not.”

 

“You were right. I had no right to be defensive, not when I had you investigated without your knowledge.”

 

She was still unyielding against him. “You succeeded today in making me feel something that I thought I'd never feel again. She used to throw it in my face, you know, about me being inferior and a fake.” Her eyes watered, and the tip of her nose was slightly flushed.

 

“Forgive me,” he whispered helplessly, not knowing what to do if she wouldn't.

 

She shook her head and struggled frantically under him. He actually ran out of ideas of persuasion, so he did the only thing that he wanted to do at the moment and closed his lips on hers.

 

He kissed her hard, willing her with all his might to yield, but she held her lips closed against him, fighting the onslaught of the forced intimacy. Her hands came up to push him off her, but he caught them in one hand and held them stretched above her head. She gasped in indignation, and he, in turn, took his chance and slipped his tongue inside her mouth. Furious by his stealth, she bit it.

 

He withdrew from her in surprise, releasing both of her hands. She sat up on the bed abruptly. She herself was surprised of what she just did.

 

“Oh, my god! Are you alright!?” she asked him in concern.

 

He felt his tongue with his finger and stared at the blood on the tip of the finger.

 

“I'm sorry!” she cried guiltily. She shifted closer towards him, cupping his face in her hands. “Here, let me see,” she coaxed him softly to allow her examine his tongue.

 

She rose up slightly to have a better angle at inspecting the interior of his mouth. Suddenly he chuckled, stopping her in motion.

 

With one hand snaking around her waist and another going to the back of her neck, he pulled her tightly against him until her nose was touching his. “You can make it up to me,” he whispered huskily against her lips and kissed her.

 

And she did exactly that. Her tongue entered his lips and gently lapped at the mistreated spot, stoking the fire within him. He drew her yet closer, deepening the kiss, his hand slowly lifting the hem of the pajama-shirt, running the palm of his hand over the slope of her lower back. She moaned against his lips, and that needy whimper aroused him more than anything as he trailed kisses down her neck.

 

The warmth of her skin reminded him of her fever, so he reluctantly disentangled himself and pushed her back to the bed. She gazed at him in confusion; an expression that enticed him to lean down and capture her lips in a soft kiss. He then kissed both her eyes and the tip of her nose and whispered against her lips. “Sleep, you need to rest.”

 

He stayed awake that night, watching her sleep. Unconsciously he reverted back to his dark self by stifling his base desires. Epiphanies never meant much to him; he usually ignored things that happened out of his control. In truth, he was sadly irredeemable.

 

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

*end of chapter*

 

 

(*) = circa three hundred dollars (I think)

AN: please do review, Thank you.