InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Purity 4: Justification ❯ Friendly Faces ( Chapter 5 )

'Oh, no!'

Gin winced, biting her lower lip as she frowned at the apartment door.  She wasn't a believer in karma, but she really had to wonder if she had wronged someone in a past life since someone somewhere was getting a good laugh at her expense, she was sure.

'Almost late to class . . . humiliated in front of everyone by my own clumsiness . . . and now . . .'

Now she realized that in her haste to get to class on time, she'd forgotten her apartment keys, which meant she was locked out.

She had meant to make a spare to give to Kagome in case something like this happened, or in case there was an emergency.  She hadn't had time to do it now, and even if she did, could she really explain to her parents that she had locked herself out?  It would just prove, in her father's opinion, that he had been right, and that she wasn't responsible enough to take care of herself.

'Think, Gin!  It's not so bad . . . People lock themselves out of their homes all the time, right?  So what do they do?  They . . . call the building superintendent!'

Rummaging through her bag until she located both her cell phone as well as the slightly bent card with the superintendent's number, Gin drew a deep breath as she poked the keypad and waited for an answer.

Stifling a soft whine as the answering machine stated that the man would be out of town all week, Gin winced and hung up the phone as the beginning threads of panic swirled around her head.

'Okay . . . he's gone . . . Surely there's someone else I can—A locksmith!'

Four calls to information assistance and four more answering machines later, Gin realized something else that she should have thought of already but hadn't.  Calling a locksmith at eight o'clock wasn't going to help, since most of them were closed.

Panic closed in a little more, and Gin winced.

There really was no help for it.  She was going to have to call her parents, and it wouldn't surprise her if InuYasha used that as a reason for her to move back home.

Trying to think of another solution but drawing a blank, Gin chewed on her index finger claw and sighed as she slumped back against the unforgiving door—her nemesis.  'If I could pick the lock . . . Bet Ryo-nii-chan could, but he'd tell Papa, if he didn't escort me home, himself, that is . . .'

A sudden thought occurred to her, and Gin held her hand up in front of her face a she considered this new idea.  Her claws were long, tapered, but strong.  'I bet . . . I could pick the lock . . .'

Dropping her bag on the floor, she knelt down in front of the door and scowled as she jabbed the point of her claw into the lock.  'Come on . . . This has to work!'

She heard the scrape of the elevator doors open but didn't bother to look.  She was so wrapped up in her task that she wasn't paying much attention at all—until the voice behind her startled her.

"Izayoi-san?  What are you doing?"

With a strangled 'eep' sound, Gin shot to her feet and whipped around to face the one man she'd rather not have seen at the moment.  The 'eep' shifted into a yelp of pain since she'd forgotten that she still had her claw stuck into the keyhole.  Her movement jerked the tip free but not before the sharp sting of the claw coming away from her skin registered in her mind.  "Ow!" she managed just before sticking the finger into her mouth in a vain effort to alleviate the pain.

Zelig-sensei stepped back; arms crossed over his chest as he stared curiously at her but didn't speak.

"I wockt eyefelf ou," she explained without pulling the finger out of her mouth as she tried to blink back tears that gathered in her eyes.

He winced and reached out to touch her shoulder but seemed to think better of it and jerked it back again.  "Don't cry . . . Can't you call someone?  The superintendent or—?"

Gin shook her head miserably.  "E's awn," she muttered.  "All week."

"Your parents?  Someone?"

With a little pop, Gin let her hand drop as she shook her head again.  "I can't call Mama . . . Papa didn't want me to move out, and he'll think . . . I can't believe I did that!"

He sighed and nodded, understanding her dilemma.  "Did you leave any windows open?"

Gin sniffled and swiped the tears away with the back of her hand.  "Windows?  Yes, but—"

Zelig-sensei shrugged.  "I can go unlock your door if you want."

She blinked and stared at him, trying to decide if he was serious or not.  "But . . . we're on the twentieth floor . . ."

"And I'm youkai.  Do you want me to let you in or not?"

". . . O-Okay."

He nodded, and Gin watched as he strode down the hall to the next door and let himself into the apartment next to hers.

'Youkai . . . that's right . . . Sesshoumaru-oji-san can take on an energy form . . . Is that what he's going to do?'

Sticking her finger into her mouth again, Gin retrieved her bag and stood back to wait.

'You're crazy, you know it?  Just why are you doing this?'

'She's locked out of her apartment.  That's all.'

'That's the only reason?  Sure, it is.'

'What other reason could there possibly be?  Wait . . . don't answer that.'

Cain didn't miss a step as he strode through his apartment, even when his body disintegrated into the bright blue hue of his energy form.  It only took seconds for him to sail out the window and around to hers.  He was solid again before his feet touched the floor in her apartment.

'She was crying,' he thought defensively.  'And it wasn't just the crying, either.  She was trying not to cry.'  Which had only served to worsen the impact of it, as far as he was concerned.  The delicate features of her face were too well defined, even in the dimly lit hallway.  It had been bad enough, when the tears filled her eyes, brightening her golden gaze like beacons in the dark.  Then her nostrils had started quivering just a little, and by the time her lips had started trembling; he had known that he had to fix it for her, if he possibly could.

'Damn, I'm just a sucker.'

'Yeah . . . so long as the girl doesn't figure that out, you'll be fine.'

'. . . Sure.'

With a sigh, he turned the lock and opened the door.

Gin blinked, as though she was amazed that he'd gotten her door open, but when her face lifted to look at him, the smile that surfaced made Cain step back.  Those eyes positively glowed with gratitude, and before he could register exactly what was happening, she ran toward him and launched herself into his arms.  It was instinct alone that made him catch her.  The warmth of her body against his was shocking as the tendrils of her unmistakable scent tightened around him like iron bands wrapped in the softest velvet.  She was so vibrant, so alive, so innocent in her exuberance.  Cain swallowed hard and gently set her on her feet before stepping away to put a respectable distance between them again.

Gin didn't seem to notice.  "Thank you so much!  I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't come along . . ." She frowned suddenly, tilting her head to the side as she continued to stare at him.  "I didn't know you live here."

"Uh, yeah . . . The university found it for me since it was such short notice and all that."

"That's so weird!  What are the odds that we'd end up being neighbors?  Guess that means I can't cut classes.  You'd know, wouldn't you?  I mean, I wouldn't cut class, but if I did, then you'd know I was . . ."

She was babbling though he wasn't at all sure whether she realized it or not.  It was something that normally bothered him.  With Gin Izayoi, there was something endearing about it.  He smiled despite himself.

She blinked in surprise as her words died on her lips, and she smiled back shyly.  "Thanks again.  I don't know what I'd have done if you hadn't come along.  Do you make it a habit to rescue bakas who lock themselves out of their apartments?"

His smile faltered.  Just why had he helped her?  Wouldn't it have been easier, just to keep walking?  'Careful, Cain . . . She's dangerous, and you know it.'

He did know that, didn't he?  Cain shrugged as if it were of no real consequence.  "Just when the baka who locked herself out of her apartment threatens to cry."

Gin winced, lifting her hand to glance at her claw like she'd forgotten that she had nearly ripped it off.  "Yeah . . . That was pretty stupid."

"I didn't mean to startle you."

"It was my own fault.  I should have realized you were behind me."

Frowning, he held out his hand.  "Let me see."

She waved away his concern.  "No, it's fine, really.  It'll be fine by morning, I'm sure."

He shook his head.  "Don't give me that, Izayoi-san."

"Just Gin's fine.  You did help me, after all."

"All right, Gin," he conceded as he nodded at her finger.  "I can smell fresh blood.  Now let me see it."

A hint of a blush crept into her cheeks as he stepped toward her, grasping her hand and turning it over to examine her injured finger.  He winced at the bluish tint that was darkening around her claw, and tugging the cuff of his sleeve over the heel of his hand, he gently dabbed away the trace amount of blood.  "You should bandage that.  I can help you, if you have one."

"Sure," she agreed, her voice breathless, bemused.  "I'll get it . . ."

Cain's frown deepened as he watched her hurry away.  'What the hell are you doing, Cain?  Get out of here before she gets to you more than she already has!'

He nodded but didn't move.  'Absolutely.  That girl . . . damn.'

'Yeah?  So why aren't you beating feet?'

'I . . . promised I'd help her . . .'

'Help her?  You're nuts!  Isabelle, Cain!  Remember Isabelle?  Remember what you did to Isabelle?'

That snapped him out of his reverie with the subtleness of a dousing of icy water.  Forcing his feet to move, he stalked toward the door only to be stopped by the melodic sound of Gin's soft voice.  "Zelig-sensei?  You're leaving?"

"Wha?  Oh . . . no . . . I, uh . . . I was just going to go get a bandage in case you didn't have one after all."

Gin's smile was immediate and breathtaking as she held up a decently sized first aid kit.  "One thing about my mother: she insists we all have a well-stocked kit," she joked.

He took the box from her and opened it up to dig for a bandage.  Gin wasn't kidding at all.  He'd never seen such a well-stocked first aid kit.  "Okay," he said as he set the box aside and ripped open the sterilized bandage.  "Hold out your finger."

"You're really gentle, you know?" she remarked as he carefully wrapped the covering over the injured claw.  "Must be because you're an artist."

Praying that she didn't discern the trace amount of trembling in his hands, he forced a small smile and hurriedly finished his task.  "There.  Don't go sticking your claw in locks anymore."

She laughed as she snapped the first aid kit closed and shrugged.  "I was desperate."

"Is your father that bad?"

"Bad?  No . . . He just can't seem to understand that I'm not really a pup anymore, is all."

"Call it a father thing.  I'm like that with my daughter, too."

"That's right . . . You have a daughter.  How old is she?"

"Bellaniece is seventeen going on three hundred, or so she'd have me believe.  She says I'm a little overprotective," he admitted.

"Just a little?"

"Just a little more than 'a little'.  Can't seem to help it."

Gin smiled then frowned as she tilted her head to the side and bit her bottom lip.  "So . . . can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

She took her time forming her question, and when she finally asked it, she was careful to avert her gaze.  "What happened to your mate?"

Cain wasn't sure why Gin's question startled him.  Of course she'd be curious since she ought to know that mates normally didn't live much longer when one died.  Still it took him a moment to digest it as a fresh wave of guilt rolled through his stomach at the blatant reminder.  "I need to go.  I'll see you tomorrow."

Gin winced.  "I'm sorry.  I suppose I got more than my fair share of curiosity from Mama.  At least, that's what my brothers have always said.  I hope I didn't offend you."

"No," he assured her.  "It's fine.  Have a good evening."

This time he didn't stop moving until he had reached the inner sanctum of his apartment.  Gin may not have realized that her question had unsettled him so badly.  Then again, maybe she did.  At least she wouldn't ask him that again, would she?

Cain sighed as he shook a cigarette out of the rumpled pack.  'Don't forget.  Gin Izayoi really is just a pup.  You'd do better to stay the hell away from her.'

Of course she was.  He knew that, right?

Balancing the cigarette between his lips as he lit it and inhaled deeply, Cain closed his eyes as he willed away the memory of her impetuous hug.  'Now if I can just remember that when she's in the same room,' he thought with a grimace, 'I'll be one step ahead of the game . . .'

Brow furrowing in concentration as she swirled the last of the off-white frosting on the cake, Gin had to admit that the cake wasn't exactly perfect.  'So it isn't the prettiest cake in the world,' she thought with an inward sigh.  'It'll do.'

She only hoped that Zelig-sensei didn't laugh in her face.

'And why would he do that?'

'He's an artist . . . I'm sure that to him, everything is a work of art, and this cake . . . well, it definitely isn't.'

'Are you sure that you're not just trying to show him that you don't try to do everything perfectly?'

She didn't answer that question.  Even if she had wanted the cake to be perfect, she wouldn't have been able to do it.  She could cook, and she could bake, but decorating cakes was something that had never, ever been something she could do.  Besides that, she'd had to use one of her sauce pans to bake the cake in since she didn't have an actual cake pan.  The results were interesting at best, and Gin could only hope that the cake tasted better than it looked.

Glancing at the clock, Gin nearly changed her mind about taking Zelig-sensei the cake.  It was nearly eleven, and she really had no idea what time he normally went to bed.

'Well, I could knock softly.  If he is in bed, he won't hear me, right?'

"Right," she murmured as she tossed the spatula into the sink and brushed her hands off.  "Besides, I should do this.  He was nice enough to help me.  Mother always says I should return kindness.  He was just being a good neighbor, and I should be one, too."

'Okay . . . then why has your blood pressure shot through the roof at the very idea of seeing him again?'

The butterflies in her belly escalated at the very idea of seeing him again.  Gin pressed her hand to her stomach and drew a steadying breath.

'Don't be ridiculous!  It's not because of him!  I just . . . I hope he likes chocolate cake, that's all.'

Wincing at her half-hearted attempt at a lie, Gin shook her head and lifted the cake off the counter, balancing it carefully as she headed for the door.

She almost turned around in the hallway and returned to her apartment.  Overcome by a mental image of just how stupid she probably looked and how Zelig-sensei would perceive her ridiculous attempt at baking him a cake, she nearly turned around to go back.  Maybe the planets were aligned just right.  Maybe it was the ultimate show of divine karma, and if that were the case, maybe she had offended some high entity by her very existence because his apartment door opened before she could make her escape.  She squeaked in surprise as he stopped just in time to keep from running her down as he strode out of his apartment.

"Gin?"

Fighting back the furious blush that threatened to engulf her features, Gin forced a tight smile and held out the cake.  "I, uh, made this for you . . . to thank you for unlocking my apartment . . ."

He seemed surprised by her gesture and leaned his head to the side as he stared thoughtfully at the slightly lopsided, entirely misshapen cake.  "You made this?"

She nodded.  'This is stupid.  I'm completely stupid.  He's going to think I'm really, really stupid . . . I don't know what I was thinking . . . Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid!'

"For me?"

She nodded again as he slowly took the cake and turned it slowly, eyeing it critically.  "It's not fancy or anything," she mumbled.

"No, it's great," he assured her with a bashful smile, little more than the vaguest twitching of the corners of his lips.  "What kind is it?"

Gin shrugged as she crossed her arms over her chest and bit her bottom lip.  "Chocolate with vanilla butter cream icing. . ."

"Nice," he agreed as he peered over the cake at Gin's blushing face.  "Listen, I was just heading out for a run through the park.  You up for it?"

The discomfort drained out of her as she stared back at him.  "Isn't it kind of late for that?"

Zelig-sensei shrugged.  "Are the youkai in the area troublesome?"

"Of course not!  They make it a rule not to mess with the tai-youkai's family—Sesshoumaru-oji-san, I mean."

His smile widened at her little slip, and he raised his eyebrows and let out a deep breath.  "Suit yourself, Gin.  If I'm not in class tomorrow, it's because I got lost in this huge city, all by myself."

She could tell he was teasing, never mind she knew that inu-youkai did not get lost.  Their senses of smell were too keen, too acute.  Unless it was the middle of a windstorm, it was almost impossible for that to happen.  Still she smiled and shrugged.  "All right," she agreed.  "Wouldn't want you to get lost, Zelig-sensei."

His smile faltered just a little before widening as he slowly shook his head.  "Just Cain's fine, Gin."

"Okay . . . Cain, it is."

Sprinting through the forest while he asked himself for the millionth time, just why he had invited Gin along with him, Cain scowled into the darkness.  'You really are asking for trouble, old man, you know it?'

'Psh.  I'm not that old.'

'And you're missing the point.  She's trouble, I tell you!  A girl like her . . . She'll crawl under your skin and make herself at home.  While your mind is all addled by her very proximity, you won't even see what's happening till it's too late.  Just what the hell do you think you're doing?'

Wincing at the accuracy of his youkai voice, Cain picked up the pace to distance himself from the entirely too-inebriating scent of the woman-pup beside him.  Whether she realized what he was doing or not, she increased her speed to match his, her footfalls as soft as a whisper on the forest floor.

He'd left Bellaniece a note, not that he expected her to emerge from her room till morning.  She'd gone to bed early, citing a headache, and though Cain had sensed her preoccupation, he hadn't remarked on it.  If Bellaniece hadn't told him something then it meant that she wasn't likely to, no matter how much cajoling he tried to use with her.

Trouble was his thoughts were in turmoil.  Too restless to sit around in the small apartment with nothing to do but think, he'd decided to go for a jog to release some of his tension.

But Gin . . .

"Bellaniece is a pretty name.  It's unusual.  How'd you come up with that?"

Snapping out of his reverie at Gin's question, Cain shot her a quick glance but didn't slow his pace.  "She was named after her mother."

"Her name was Bellaniece?"

"No . . . her name was Isabelle."

"Oh . . . That's lovely, too . . ."

He could sense Gin's unvoiced questions.  She didn't ask them, but they were awash in the depths of her golden gaze.  "Are you sure we won't get in trouble for running through this forest?" he asked to distract Gin before she gathered enough courage to ask the questions forming in her mind.

She laughed; an easy sound that tinkled in the air like a thousand silvery bells.  The sound soothed him, comforted him, lent him a curious sense of strength that he couldn't quite credit.  Ignoring the warmth that seeped through him, Cain concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other as he loped through the forest beside the mysterious girl.  She didn't seem to notice Cain's sudden silence.  Content to jog along, she lifted her face heavenward to gaze up at the overcast sky.

"This is Papa's forest—InuYasha's Forest.  He would rather that I ran here than in the park, you know?"

Cain nodded.  "I see."  Dropping to a walk as they entered a clearing near a small spring, he couldn't help but smile as she let her head fall back, gazing quietly up at the stars.

"They're brighter here, you know?" she said quietly.  "Mama told me that when she used to go to Papa's time, the stars were brighter there, too . . . millions of them, and on clear nights, she and Papa would just sit and stare at them."

"Your father's time," Cain echoed.  Precious few knew the real story of the time traveling priestess from the modern world that went back time and again to help her friends defeat Naraku in the Warring States Era.  He knew the story.  Sesshoumaru had told him long ago.  How had Gin known that?  "That was a little before my time."

Gin straightened up and slowly turned to face him, resting her hands on her hips as she shuffled a foot in the grass.  "Before your time?  How old are you?"

"Two hundred and eighty-two years old.  One of these days, I'm going to stop keeping track."

She grinned.  "That's not so bad.  Sesshoumaru-oji-san is well over seven hundred, probably closer to eight hundred . . . or more . . ."

"How old is your father?"

"Papa's nearly fifty. . . but if you count the years that he was pinned to Goshinboku and the years that passed when he came after Mama, then he'd be closer to six hundred."

Cain chuckled.  "Do you count those years?"

Gin's smile turned impish, her fangs glinting in the moonlight.  "No."

Her silvery hair shone blue, the angles of her face bathed in shadows, kissed with light.  Her eyes were bright as she scanned the night sky; her smile was enigmatic as she flicked her little hanyou ears.

"You ready to head back?" he asked at last, breaking the silence that had fallen around them.

Gin blinked and glanced at him, as if she had forgotten that he was there.  "Sure," she said as she rotated her shoulders and strode over to him.

"Good," he remarked as he broke into a slow jog.  "You're going to help me eat that cake, right?"

Gin giggled as she fell into stride beside him.  "Right."