InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Immortalized ❯ Brick ( Chapter 9 )

#9: Brick

The brick facade of Sesshoumaru's apartment building is not particularly inviting. It stands between a building of concrete and a building of stucco, so prides itself on being the most dignified of its neighbors. But while dignified, it is not warm. White shutters stand sentry at the windows. There is no neatly-trimmed shrubbery to separate public from private. There are no expertly-placed trees to soften the lines and angles of the building. There are certainly no flowerboxes, or children's toys, or quirky outdoors decor. Nothing implies that anyone who lives within has any sense of permanence or belonging here.

Sesshoumaru leads Kagome up the concrete path to the pristine white front door, through neat, well-kept hallways, up four flights of stairs, into the apartment that takes up the entire fifth floor. Like the hallways and the stairwells, the apartment walls hold no evidence that someone lives here.

"Make yourself at home," Sesshoumaru says. He is not aware of Kagome's perception of the space he has occupied for the past twenty-some years. He shows her into the bedroom, where she drops her yellow sack in a corner. He can feel her eyes on him. "Use this room," he tells her. "The bathroom..." he indicates a door across the hall from the bedroom. He turns and exits, then turns back without looking her in the eye, "We will talk in the morning."
________
230 words.