InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Not Soon Forgotten ❯ Hello ( Chapter 11 )

Sesshoumaru kept up with his painting as his source for income even after that fateful day in July. Five months had passed since then and he was acting more and more like himself than he had for first couple of months. He felt freer than he had when he was traveling the world for his work, even though he no longer traveled great distances.

 

He saved up enough money while he was living in Hawaii to buy a nice condo in New York; yes he even felt secure enough to stay there now. He had flitted by the prospect of seeing Kagome around, although he did not really expect to.

 

Sesshoumaru walked with a light bounce in his step and even stopped to give a bell-ringing Santa Clause a couple of dollars. Today he was going to see his friend John about some paintings he had recently done, and with any amount of luck, hopefully sell a few of them.

 

He continued on his walk and soon found himself just outside of his friend's new art gallery. Sesshoumaru dusted his gloved hands off on his slacks and gently wiped his feet on the mat inside the door.

 

“Hey Sesshoumaru! Long time no see! What have you been doing with yourself?” John greeted him loudly.

 

“I have been painting John. I take it you received my shipment?” Sesshoumaru asked.

 

“Yes I did, I haven't opened it yet though, what's say we take a look?”

 

John walked over to the corner of the gallery and retrieved a large crate. He opened it to reveal several different paintings that Sesshoumaru had created over the months. Sesshoumaru stood with his arms crossed, leaning against the wall, watching as John inspected his work. He felt quite smug with himself as he watched John nod a few times in appreciation.

 

“All these in five months? You sure have been keeping yourself busy haven't you?” John lamented.

 

“You should see the pile of them I burned,” Sesshoumaru remarked.

 

“You know, you can tell a lot about a person's state of mind looking at paintings,” John said. “Take this one for example; when you painted this I can tell you were feeling sorry for yourself.”

 

Sesshoumaru looked over at the aforementioned painting and grinned a little. “Yes, actually; that one I painted in August.”

 

“-And here,” John continued as he recreated violent brush strokes from a different painting of Sesshoumaru's, “Here you were angry. Getting over that broken heart of yours sure gave you the passion you needed to do this.”

 

Sesshoumaru frowned a little. “I do not get broken hearted. Broken hearts are below me.”

 

John continued on with his inspections, ignoring Sesshoumaru's side comments. “Now this one!” he exclaimed picking up one of the painting towards the back of the crate. “This is where you became an artist!”

 

Sesshoumaru looked at the painting and shrugged. “Not one of my better works in my opinion, but it has potential I suppose. I had a lot to say, but could not get my words out; so I painted it instead.”

 

John nodded and smiled at his friend. “Sesshoumaru, you have grown quite a lot as an artist since you've been away. As a matter of fact-”

 

He was cut off by the phone in the art gallery ringing. “Excuse me,” John said as he went to answer it.

 

“Hello?...Yes Ms. Yes, hold on.”

 

John set the phone down and walked over to Sesshoumaru who was still looking at his paintings.

 

“The phone is for you Sesshoumaru,” John informed him.

 

Sesshoumaru nodded and walked over to the phone.

 

“This is Sesshoumaru,” he quickly said.

 

“Sesshoumaru dear!” came the familiar voice of Kagura.

 

Sesshoumaru closed his eyes in frustration; how did she find him?

 

“Hello Kagura-”

 

“I heard you were back in town and I called around and finally found someone who said I could reach you at this number. You know, I've been thinking of you quite a bit lately. We really should get together sometime and catch up. What do you say?”

 

“Well-”

 

“Oh come on Sesshoumaru dear! You can't honestly say that you haven't missed me at all?!”

 

“Kagura, your family sued me for all I was worth, or did that slip your mind?” Sesshoumaru said gracefully.

 

“Are you still upset over that? I told you exactly what my father was going to do; please do not hold your grudge on me,” Kagura pleaded. “Please, can't we meet?”

 

“Did you not get married?” Sesshoumaru asked her.

 

“Yes, and divorced. Now what do you say? There's a concert tonight at Carnegie Hall, I'll leave a ticket at the box office in case you decide to come, which I truly hope you do.”

 

“I'll see if I can make it,” Sesshoumaru stated emotionlessly.

 

“Great! And Sesshoumaru, whatever you do, don't make plans for after the show, okay?” With that last statement, Kagura ended the call, leaving Sesshoumaru less than amused.

 

“What was that all about? I haven't seen you look so pale since…well never,” John remarked.

 

“It seems I have a date tonight, as loathe as I am to do so. It would be nice to have an evening out,” Sesshoumaru admitted.

 

“Well, just don't do anything I wouldn't do,” John said with a smirk.

 

Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow at John; was he kidding? “That leaves very little to be desired.”

 

 

****

 

 

Throughout the performance Sesshoumaru had felt Kagura's eyes on him. She would try to casually brush her hand against his thigh or would lean in really close to whisper in his ear in an attempt to seduce him. He was ready to leave.

 

When the performance ended the hall gave a standing ovation for the orchestra. Sesshoumaru noticed a blonde woman sitting down behind him and he turned slightly to look at her. She wasn't much, but she was better to look at then his date was tonight.

 

The blonde woman's date gave Sesshoumaru a warning glance and Sesshoumaru arched his eyebrow at him. Kagura, having just caught on to the goings on around her, smacked Sesshoumaru lightly on the arm, bringing his attention back towards the stage.

 

Kagura looked at the girl that Sesshoumaru was ogling and sneered at her before bringing her own attention back to the stage. Everyone sits down again as the band performs one more piece for the receptive crowd and Kagura placed her hand tightly around Sesshoumaru's knee.

 

Trying not to be extremely rude, Sesshoumaru cleared his throat and gave Kagura a look that told her to move her hand unless she wanted it removed permanently. With a small gulp Kagura removed her hand and placed it in her own lap once more.

 

It was not much longer that the band was finished playing again and everyone now stood to leave. Sesshoumaru allows the blonde woman to exit before him and her date gives him another glare before heading up the aisle.

 

Kagura huffed and crossed her hands over her chest; he had quite the nerve flirting with a woman right in front of her!

 

Sesshoumaru resisted the urge to roll his eyes at her behavior. He figured since she paid for the tickets that he would try and have a good time. “Where would you like to go from here?”

 

“Well I don't know Sesshoumaru; I planned this evening for you. Where would you like to go?” she said hotly.

 

“You forget Kagura; I have not been here in a while, so I am not precisely sure where to go.”

 

The pair continued up the aisle, but as they reach the top Sesshoumaru stops abruptly. Sitting in the aisle seat in the top row sat Kagome dressed beautifully in an ivory colored dress. She still looked as beautiful as he remembered. He noticed that she was sitting next to Inuyasha; someone he had not seen in years and it made his blood run a little cold.

 

Sesshoumaru gave himself a mental kick and continued walking. He reached Kagome's side and she accidentally dropped her purse. Sesshoumaru debated for a split second before he leaned over to pick it up for her.

 

Kagome reached for it at the same time, but stopped when she saw someone had grabbed it. She lifted her head up to thank the person but froze when she noticed the pair of amber eyes and silver-white hair that she had dreamt about all these months. Kagome opened and closed her mouth a few times to speak and was finally to squeak out a quiet…

 

“Hello.”

 

Sesshoumaru did not say anything back, but he bowed and handed Kagome her purse. Just hearing her voice again brought up feelings that he had done so well suppressing for the past few months.

 

With one last look he started back up the aisle to Kagura's side.

 

“What were you saying?” Sesshoumaru asked Kagura, glancing back at Kagome from the corner of his eye. The continued now out of the building and out of Kagome's sight.

 

Kagome frowned as she watched the man that had haunted her dreams walk away from her. She felt so torn as to what to do, but she saw that he was with someone and decided against following after him.

 

Inuyasha saw the trepidation in her eyes and stood. “You should tell him-let me go get him,” he said as he began to follow after Sesshoumaru.

 

Kagome grabbed his wrist and held him back. “No,” she said to him, “no, just…no.”

 

Inuyasha looked at her then with sympathy in his eyes. “I'm sorry Kagome. I know this is the first time you've been out since your accident and it had to be the same night that he's here.”

 

Kagome gave a slight laugh at herself and her luck. “And all I could do was say hello.”

 

They were both silent for a while as Kagome closed her eyes to burn the image of Sesshoumaru into her memory. For months all she had seen of him was his piercing amber eyes and striking silver hair; and now, she had a face, and a body, to go with those.

 

“Well,” Inuyasha said to her, “show's over, you wanna get out of here?”

 

Kagome nodded and then stood, accepting Inuyasha's arm as he led her out of the hall. She had started to remember things off and on, but nothing that was worth getting excited over. Now, all she would be able to think about would be Sesshoumaru's handsome face and his voice as he left her behind. But she would hold onto those for dear life until the day she could remember him.

 

 

***

 

 

Sesshoumaru sat back in the seat of Kagura's limo and watched the city pass by. There were so many things that he wanted to ask Kagome when he saw her, but he just could not bring himself to say anything. Seeing her with Inuyasha was like a slap in the face and he wasted no time in leaving, lest he do something he would regret.

 

The limo came to a stop and Sesshoumaru noticed that they were outside of his condo. Along the streets people were still radiating off each other's holiday spirit, but Sesshoumaru felt none of that. He got out of the limo and gave an appreciative bow to Kagura.

 

“Good night Kagura; and thank you for this evening,” Sesshoumaru said quietly.

 

Kagura gave a half-hearted smile to him; he had not said a word since they entered the limo and she had a sneaking suspicion as to why.

 

“I suppose asking you out tonight wasn't such a good idea,” Kagura said.

 

Sesshoumaru stood up straight and turned his head to watch the crowd of people. True his day was going well until tonight, but he was grateful for the time out nonetheless. He turned back towards Kagura and gave her a small kiss on the cheek.

 

“Happy holidays,” he told her and then walked towards his condo.

 

Kagura watched his retreating back with regret; the once proud business man had been reduced down to only a shadow of his former self. She did not want to know all of the details, but she was sure that it was not a pretty sight.

 

“Happy holidays,” Kagura whispered and then drove off.

 

Sesshoumaru was about to walk inside of the building where his condo awaited him, but though differently. He still could not get Kagome's face out of his mind and he was not ready to go to sleep yet.

 

He turned and started a nice walk down the city streets, all the while cursing the people and their good moods. Sesshoumaru now hated this time of year, although he never really was particularly fond of it anyway; but now he just hated it more. The bright lights were all a taunting mass for people who did not feel cheery. They mocked the less fortunate and they made memories come forward unbidden.

 

Sesshoumaru stopped walking long enough to pull a cigarette out of his pocket and light it. He looked up high in the sky and watched from a distance as the Empire State building loomed over head in silent ridicule. The lights of the building shown brightly in the night sky and Sesshoumaru closed his eyes as thoughts of July came forward.

 

He was so lost in his thoughts that he did not notice the drunken man stumbling down the street dragging a small partially dead Christmas tree behind him. Nor did he notice when the drunk looked at him, then at the building that had caught Sesshoumaru's attention, and then back at him again.

 

The drunk snorted and struck up conversation.

 

“Whasa matter buddy? Yous gots troubles?” the drunk asked him.

 

Sesshoumaru turned his head to look at the drunken man, but did not say anything to him. So the drunken man continued.

 

“Yous don' even knows what troubles is…look a' me, I live all za way on 186th street, an' theys won' even lemme on the bus.”

 

As if waiting for that moment, a bus pulls up and stops. The drunken man's eyes light up and he goes to the door of the bus. The driver took a good look at him and noticed both that the man was drunk and he was carrying a Christmas tree and refused to let him on. The driver closed the door on him and started to pull away.

 

Sesshoumaru watched as the drunk yelled a few obscenities and then proceeded to throw his small Christmas tree at the back of the bus.

 

The drunk staggered over to Sesshoumaru with a scowl on his face. “I ain't gonna celebrates Christmas this years. Imma just gets good an' drunk!” The drunk then walked away, leaving Sesshoumaru highly amused and in a much lighter spirit.

 

Sesshoumaru took one last look at the Empire State building and walked back to his condo.

 

 

***

 

 

Kagome sat back further into her seat within the confines of Inuyasha's limousine. She watched as people scurried across the streets to get all of their shopping finished, and watched to happy faces of many of the patrons. Kagome did not share in their joy.

 

When she had seen Sesshoumaru tonight she wanted to keep him with her to help her remember their time together, but it would have been selfish on her part. Over the months her frustration for not being able to remember more than that man's eyes and hair had taken its toll on her. He was the only thing she could think of, yet he was also the only thing she could not remember.

 

Inuyasha looked over to Kagome and noticed her faraway stare. He sighed and leaned over a bit to talk to her.

 

“You know,” he said suddenly and made her jump. “I fell really bad about taking you home when everyone else is starting to come out. Are you sure you don't want to go to dinner or something?”

 

Kagome shook her head. “No, thank you though; I think I just want to go home.”

 

“Kagome look. I know I've asked you before, but please tell me again. Why won't you let me help you more? I could pay to have a specialist help you with your memory; you could possibly get it back sooner.”

 

Kagome looked over at him and smiled. She felt a strong obligation to Sesshoumaru even though she could not remember him, and thus had turned down Inuyasha for his help.

 

“Alright Inuyasha; I'll tell you again. If you were to pay for me to get better then he wouldn't like it…and if he wouldn't like it, then chances are I wouldn't like it. And if you did get me well and then I go to him…well, you wouldn't like it,” Kagome explained.

 

Inuyasha wrapped his head around her explanation and sighed again. “Then you really should just tell him; that way he can-”

 

“You know I can't do that Inuyasha. If he knew then he would insist on me getting treatment with money that you told me he doesn't have. And then what happens if he spends that money he doesn't have and I don't get better? That would be awful. He would feel terrible and I would feel terrible,” Kagome went on.

 

She stayed silent for a moment before she spoke again. “Nope, unless I can remember everything there is to know about the man I'm not going to get him involved. He may even say that he is strong enough for the both of us, but I don't want to place that amount of burden on him. If I stick to my budget and my job keeps up, then I'll be able to afford treatment myself and maybe I can get what I want next year for Christmas.”

 

Inuyasha shook his head at her. He had always known Kagome to be stubborn, but she was just going to end up hurting herself even more by not telling Sesshoumaru the truth. If he didn't already promise Kagome to keep her secret he would have sought out Sesshoumaru months ago and told him himself.

 

Kagome remained silent for the rest of the trip and soon they were pulling up to her apartment building.

 

“Thank you for tonight Inuyasha; I did have a good time,” Kagome said to him.

 

“It was my pleasure. I'll tell Mary you said hello; she's been asking about you a lot lately,” Inuyasha replied.

 

“Please tell her I said hello. Have you two set a date yet?”

 

“No, but she's leaning for a spring wedding; she'll probably get what she wants,” Inuyasha said with a grin.

 

Kagome gave him a warm hug and thanked him again for taking her out. She watched as his limo pulled away and tried desperately not to feel sorry for herself. Kagome was happy for Inuyasha; after everything that he had been through within the past year, he was finally going to get what he wanted: a nice family to come home to.

 

Kagome looked off into the distance and saw the gleaming lights of the Empire State building. Whenever she looked at it she always felt drawn to it, but never understood why. There was just something about it that made her want to go there, but with her work schedule she never got the chance.

 

She took a step towards the Empire State building, but stopped. The doctors had said that was where her accident had occurred and now Kagome was less than enthusiastic to venture there. Instead, she turned around to head into her apartment.

 

She would save the Empire State building for another day.

 

 

****

 

 

Kagome used her weekend to roam the streets of Manhattan, stopping into small hole-in-the-wall stores to see what they had to offer; it was a small indulgence of hers. She had already found a nice jewelry shop, a cheap shoe store, and a music store that housed some of her favorite old bands that she had problems finding elsewhere.

 

She was on her way home, when she passed by a small art gallery. She looked in the window as she passed but then stopped short when she saw a particular painting that was hanging on the wall in the back. For a minute she could only stare at it from the outside, but curiosity had soon gotten the better of her and she walked into the deserted gallery.

 

A tiny bell chimed, signaling her entry and Kagome made her way to the back wall. She reached up to touch it when a man walked into the room.

 

“Hello there, can I help you with anything today?” John asked Kagome.

 

“Um, yes, I was wondering if you could tell me about this painting,” she asked him.

 

John looked at the painting and nodded a couple of times to gather his thoughts. “This painting was done by the artist a couple of months ago. He never mentioned who she was, but it is truly one of his best works.”

 

Kagome continued to look at the picture and John took a moment to look her over, as any red-blooded man would do. He furrowed his brows as he studied her face and then looked towards the painting. To double check, he looked at her once more and then the painting once more; now making a very intriguing connection.

 

John cleared his throat to gain Kagome's attention. “If I may be so bold as to say, you look quite a great deal like the young woman in this painting.”

 

Kagome closed her eyes and felt unshed tears stinging her eyes. “It's because that is me. The man who painting this…I'm supposed to know him.”

 

“Supposed to know him? What do you mean?” John asked.

 

“There was an accident…I just can't remember…” Kagome trailed off while shaking her head. “It is a very beautiful painting. There is so much emotion in it; it's just…breathtaking. And I'm not saying that because that's me in the painting.”

 

John chuckled a little at the small joke. Just being around her for a few minutes gave him a sense of what Sesshoumaru would see in her. She was incredibly beautiful with a warm disposition. It was hard to think that this small woman had been the one to bring out such emotion from the once harsh businessman.

 

She picked herself up straight again and wiped at her eyes. “How much is the artist asking for the painting?”

 

“Well, I believe that this is one of his best works, though he may disagree with me. Tell you what; why don't you stop by tomorrow and I'll have a number for you.”

 

Kagome agreed that she would stop by tomorrow and John handed her his card.

 

“Excuse me John?” Kagome asked before she left the gallery.

 

“Yes?”

 

“Please, um, don't tell him I was here. I would appreciate being kept anonymous,” Kagome asked of him.

 

John nodded his agreement. “Of course.”

 

Kagome smiled at him and then left the gallery to head back to her apartment.

 

As soon as she left John picked up his phone and dialed Sesshoumaru's condo.

 

“Hello?” came Sesshoumaru's voice.

 

“Yes hello Sesshoumaru it's John.”

 

“What can I do for you John?”

 

“I had a young woman come into the art gallery today who took quite a liking to your painting.”

 

“I have many painting there John; which one captured her tastes?”

 

“The one of the young woman standing before an ocean backdrop, sniffing the tropical flower. She said she saw a lot of pent up emotion in it, and was immediately interested.”

 

“John I told you not to place that painting in there; it was not my best.”

 

“Oh well, I did, and she wants to purchase it. So how much are you asking for it?”

 

“Just let her have it. I highly doubt anyone else will see what she saw in that painting…well, besides you.”

 

“Are you sure?”

 

“Quite.”

 

“Alright Sesshoumaru, I'll give her the painting. Don't overwork yourself.”

 

John hung up the phone and smiled. He could feel that his friend would be very happy in the very near future. Sesshoumaru and that woman, Kagome, were closer to each other than they even realized and it was only a matter of time before the fates smiled down on them again.

 

He was quite curious as to what Kagome meant when she said that she was supposed to know Sesshoumaru. Her admission of an accident left half-way between finding an answer. Perhaps he should look into it a little more; for curiosity's sake of course.