InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Purity 4: Justification ❯ Business as Usual ( Chapter 18 )

Kichiro unlocked the door and stepped into the dimly lit office, ignoring the voice in the back of his mind that told him just how petty and ridiculous he was being.

'She started it.'

'Oh, for kami's sake, Kich . . . You do hear yourself, right?  Do you know how stupid you sound?'

Kichiro drew the blinds open and stared out the window for a few seconds before turning on the overhead light and stomping back toward his office.  'She did, or weren't you there?'

'Yeah, yeah, I was there.  Thought you said you don't care what Belle thinks.'

'. . . I don't.'

'Uh-huh.'

'Oh, shut the hell up.'

'Now that's mature.'

'I'm past caring, you know.  She started it.  She always starts it—'

'Except when you do.'

'I do not!'

'No?  Then you didn't blow an ass gasket and leave her sitting in the middle of a restaurant alone?  So you didn't make her walk home at night by herself?  Oh, yeah, and you sure as hell didn't seek her out at the movie theater last night just to get all bent because she wasn't jumping for joy to see you?  Baka.'

'Whose youkai are you?  Mine or hers?'

'Yours for the moment though I did ask for a change of host since you're an idiot.'

'Hmm, well until that transfer comes through for you, do me a favor and shut up, okay?  Save me the trouble of hearing your inane babble.'

'. . . Sierra was your date . . . you know, Kich . . . can I ask you something?'

'. . . It depends.'

'. . . Are we gay?'

Kichiro's growling filled the empty office with a menacing air.  Pondering how hard it would be, to filter the youkai blood out of his system, he refused to answer that particular question as he flopped into his desk chair and pulled the manila file toward him.

According to the records, it had been nearly nine months since Kelly Hendricks' accident.  The latest lab reports and the skin analysis showed that she was almost ready for the first of the reconstructive surgeries.  If everything continued to progress, she'd be ready in less than a month, which would mean that Kichiro would need to head over to the United States in a couple weeks.  He'd already applied for the necessary work visa as well as the interim permit that would allow him to practice medicine in the States.  As soon as those came through, he was good to go . . .

'Good . . . at least I'll get away from her, even though I have a sneaking suspicion that an ocean isn't nearly enough space for my comfort.'

'You know, Kich, there's something you've probably not considered.'

'You, again?  Thought I told you to shut up.'

'Yeah, you did.  Anyway, have you thought about the fact that Kelly is Belle's best friend?'

Kichiro snorted.  'Well, yeah, that was sort of obvious.'

'Was it?  So you also realized that there's a damn good chance she'll want to be there for her friend's surgery.'

No, he hadn't really considered that even though he probably should have.  It hadn't occurred to him at all, in fact, and that his youkai was so obviously willing to point this out to him . . .

Kichiro dropped his forehead into his hand and closed his eyes.  'There's no way in hell she's going with me,' he stated.  'I'd rather be dead . . . Her father wouldn't let her go with me, anyway.  No father in his right mind would.'

'He would if he thinks you're gay—a very real possibility if Belle tells her father about your confrontation last night.'

'For the last fucking time, I'm not fucking gay, and if you say that again, I swear to kami, I'll hook us up to an IV and turn myself human—see if I don't . . .'

'As if you could!  Balls, Kich, you're really touchy today . . .'

'You think?'

'Yeah . . . you need to get laid.'

Kichiro just groaned at that simplistic reply and shoved himself away from the desk as he shot to his feet and strode out of his office.

Bellaniece breezed through the door with a scowl on her face and sunglasses covering her eyes.  She pulled them off and spared Kichiro a glance that seemed to miss him completely, scanning the waiting room with a discerning eye before she strolled over to her desk, tossed her sunglasses down, and stowed her purse on the floor before smoothing the skirt of her light yellow dress.

'Oh, hell, no . . . she's not going to ignore me, not after her line of shit last night,' he fumed as he summoned the brightest smile he could manage.  Stuffing his hands into his pockets, he casually strolled over to her and sat on the corner of her desk.  "Morning, Belle-chan.  How was your date?"

"It was fine," she replied, her smile rivaling his in falseness.  "Perfect . . . Couldn't have asked for a nicer date."

"Well, great," he assured her.  "Just wonderful.  I'm glad to hear it."

"Are you?  Good . . . I'm sorry your . . . date . . . ended so abruptly."

"What, that?  It was fine, just fine.  Sierra had a good time, and I . . . Well, I found something to do."

She almost smiled.  "Oh?  Interesting . . ."

The door rattled as Mai hurried in.  The older woman stopped short, stared from Kichiro to Bellaniece and back again.  "Good morning, Mai-san," Kichiro greeted with a bright smile.

The secretary's eyes narrowed suspiciously.  "You're here early today, Izayoi-sensei . . . and you're . . . happy."

Bellaniece snorted.  "Isn't he?  It's so nice, isn't it?  So upbeat and pleasant . . . makes me so glad I came to work today!"

Kichiro's smile widened.  "Ah, always a ray of sunshine, aren't you, Belle-chan?"

"Well, I do try."

"Oh, absolutely," Kichiro agreed.

"Are you sure everything is all right?" Mai asked, shaking her head in confusion at the odd behavior coming at her from both Bellaniece and Kichiro.

"Couldn't be better," Kichiro assured her.

"Nothing wrong at all," Bellaniece granted.

"That's right.  Now if you ladies will excuse me, I've got to get ready for my first appointment."

Kichiro stood up and headed out of the reception area.

'Balls, Kich . . . All that niceness was enough to choke me.'

'Tell me about it.'

'You know, Belle looks damn fine this morning.'

'Does she?'

'Don't tell me you didn't notice.'

Kich snorted as he grabbed the first file in the holder on his desk and sank down.  'All right, then . . . I won't tell you I didn't notice.'

'So you did notice!'

'No . . . I just said I wouldn't tell you that I didn't . . . but I didn't.'

'Lying to others is one thing; lying to yourself?  That's just bad.'

'Yeah?  Well, I don't remember asking your opinion.'

'Let's face it, shall we?  You just don't like that Belle is just as good at your game of belittling as you are . . . Bad enough when she was picking at our ears—which are just as soft as Ryo's . . . probably . . . but—'

'What do you mean, 'probably'?  We're twins—identical twins—remember?'

'Sure, but his could be softer . . .'

Kichiro grumbled as he dropped the file onto his desk and grabbed a pen.  'Do me a favor, will you?  Shut the hell up already!  Softer ears, my—'

'Okay, Kich, you win for now.  I'll keep my opinions to myself if you'll admit one thing.'

'What?'

'Admit that you can't stand the idea that Belle's dating that weak little human.'

Kichiro snorted.  'Keh.  I don't care who she dates or what she does.  She's not my concern.'

'Maybe not, but somewhere deep inside, you wish she was.'

'About as much as I wish I were . . .' Kichiro trailed off, tossing the pen onto his desk as he heaved a disgusted sigh.

'Go on, say it . . . You were going to say 'gay', weren't you?'

'No!'

His youkai chuckled but finally left him alone.

Gin flicked her ears as she concentrated on the sketch of the day's model.  The girl looked bored, which was funny since she was nude and sitting in the middle of a room of art students, roughly half of which were boys.

Tapping the end of her pencil against the sketchpad in front of her, Gin frowned at her drawing as she made a face at the image.  'Something's off . . . The proportions are wrong.'

With a sigh, she erased the girl's torso—the part that had been giving her the most trouble—before setting to work again.  Lifting her chin as she studied the model, Gin tilted her head to the side.

'That sketch isn't that bad, Gin.  You're being too critical.  Cain doesn't expect it to be perfect, otherwise this wouldn't be a class . . . Get it?'

Gin grimaced.  'Of course not, but there's nothing wrong with trying a little harder.'

'You know, I was thinking . . . Did it seem to you that your mother wanted to ask you something when you were over there yesterday?'

'I thought so, too . . .'

That was true.  Kagome had looked at Gin, stared at her as though there were something that she wanted to ask, but didn't know how.  She hadn't asked a thing, but Gin had sensed her unasked questions.

'Speaking of yesterday, that was nice.'

'What was?' Gin asked.  She had a feeling she knew what her youkai was talking about, but . . .

'You know what: waking up with Cain there.'

Gin blushed as a little grin surfaced on her face, as her stomach turned over in a delightful tremor.  She hadn't been awake enough to say much and had struggled to remind him to take his shirt, but it had occurred to her that he had stayed with her all night.  He'd made sure that she was protected.  He kept her irrational fears of being human at bay.  It was a strange thing, really.  Even in her father's house, even surrounded by her father and brothers and mother, she'd never been able to sleep on such nights, but having Cain there . . .

'I can't remember having slept so well,' she confessed.

'Me, either.'

'It was nice.'

'Yeah, it was . . . really, really nice.'

She couldn't go back to sleep after he left, so she got up and showered and was just drinking a cup of tea when the loud knock announced her parents' arrivals.  InuYasha had stomped in and looked around slowly, as if he expected someone to jump out of the shadows inside the apartment.

"Morning, Papa!  Morning, Mama!  Would you like some tea?"

InuYasha strode deliberately toward the sofa.  "Tell me why I smell that bastard here."

Gin grimaced as Kagome pulled a mug out of the cupboard.  "What bas—?"

"Don't give me that, baby girl!  That sensei of yours."

"Do you smell him?  I hadn't noticed . . ."

InuYasha slowly turned his head to stare at his daughter before stomping over to her and sniffing.  Gin tried not to wince.  "Papa?"

He glowered at her another moment or two then nodded once.  "Well, you don't smell like him . . . Are you sure you were alone last night?"

Gin nearly choked on her tea but managed to swallow without incident.  "Yeah . . . Umm . . . Cain lives in this building, so maybe you're just—?"

"He what?"

"He . . . lives  . . . in this building . . ."

"Pack your stuff, Gin . . . You're coming home right fucking now."

"InuYasha, calm down," Kagome broke in.  "Gin's not stupid, and obviously, she's just fine.  You trust her, don't you?  After all, you can't control who lives here, and he is her teacher."

"It ain't her I don't trust," InuYasha growled, "it's him . . . Maybe I should hunt him down and give him a nice, friendly warning."

Kagome grimaced.  "You'll do no such thing.  It stands to reason that he's probably come over to visit.  He's new to Tokyo and probably doesn't know many people around here . . . I'm sure that's all there is to it, right, Gin?"

"Uh, yeah," Gin agreed weakly.

InuYasha snorted and strode toward the hallway—toward Gin's bedroom.  Gin grimaced.  At least she'd left the windows open, and she could only be thankful for the fresh morning breeze that had hopefully dispelled any lingering scent of Cain in that room . . .

"So you call your teacher by his first name?" Kagome asked casually.

"Sure . . . I mean, yeah . . . Shouldn't I?"

Kagome didn't answer.  She finished her tea and rinsed the cup as InuYasha stomped back into the room with a slightly mollified if not still irritated look on his face.

At least he hadn't insisted she move back home again.  Gin sighed.  She wasn't ashamed of her friendship with Cain.  She just wished her father would understand . . .

"Having trouble, Izayoi-san?"

Gin gasped and jumped, whipping her head to the side to stare up at Cain.  She'd been concentrating hard enough that she hadn't heard him approach.

He was leaning on the back of her stool, a lazy smile twitching the corners of his lips as his clear blue eyes sparkled with amusement.  "Uh . . . err . . . I . . . um . . . N-Not really," she stammered, blushing as her stomach erupted in a million little flutters.

"You sure?" he asked, quirking a light brown eyebrow in question.

"Yes," she answered, dragging her gaze away.  "You know, I've noticed something."

"What's that?"

She swallowed hard as she forced herself to concentrate on the task at hand again.  "Females have prettier bodies, don't you think?"

"Prettier . . .?" Cain choked out.

Gin was too busy contemplating the model to notice his discomfort.  "Well, you know . . . Females are curvy and sort of soft, not all . . . hard with . . . stuff . . . sticking out."

"Sticking out?" he echoed.  "Gin—"

"Okay, not just sticking out, but you have to admit, it does sort of just . . . hang there . . . Not really aesthetically pleasing, wouldn't you say?"

"Does it really have to be aesthetically pleasing?  Think function, all right?" he grumbled.

"It could have still been a little prettier and still function.  Maybe it should have been inside the body and only pop out when necessary . . . like an antenna . . ."

"Gin," he said, grasping her shoulder so that she'd stop talking.  "Let me see your sketch."

"Uh, no," she insisted as she smashed the sketchpad against her chest.

He waved his hand and rolled his eyes.  "Come on, Gin, while I'm here, let me see it."

Gin shook her head and winced.  "You know, you can do me later."

Cain froze for a moment before jerking back as the art students erupted in twitters and giggles.

Gin frowned as she glanced around before she looked up at Cain again.  "Was it something I said?"

"I'll . . . You . . . Okay," he mumbled before striding to the next student as the laughter escalated.

Gin bit her lip and shrugged.  'What was that all about?'

'I'm not sure . . . We could ask Cain after class.'

Turning her attention back to her sketchpad again, she sighed.  'Yeah, all right.  Why was he blushing?'

'Who knows?  You know, doll . . . I think . . . I think he likes us.'

Gin made a face as she worked on sketching the model's shoulders.  'Well, of course he likes us.  He's our friend.'

'I wonder . . .'

'Hmm?'

'Oh, nothing . . . Nothing at all . . .'

Focusing her concentration on the sketch, Gin didn't pay attention to her youkai's words.

Bellaniece poked her head into Kichiro's office and cleared her throat to draw his attention.  "Sorry to bother you," she said in a smooth, even tone, "but your mother's on line three . . . and you weren't answering your phone."

Kichiro waved a hand without looking up from the file he held on his lap. Legs kicked up, ankles crossed, he didn't acknowledge her as he flipped over a page and kept reading.  Even in his relaxed state, there was a very real air of strength about him, and not for the first time Bellaniece had to wonder just how strong Kichiro really was.

"Dr. Izayoi?  Would you like me to take a message for you?"

"Of course not," he scoffed as he leaned over to grab the phone without taking his eyes off the paper.  "Didn't you say it is my mother?"

Bellaniece pursed her lips but didn't snap back.  Kichiro picked up the receiver and hit the button to connect before bringing the phone up to his head.  "Izayoi."

Slipping into the office and leaning against the door, Bellaniece crossed her arms over her chest since she still needed to tell him that his last appointment of the day had just called to reschedule before she headed back to her desk in the lobby.

"Of course I remember," he said as he broke into a little smile that Bellaniece hadn't seen before.  The gentleness of his tone coupled with the almost bashful quality of that smile was devastating to her, and he wasn't even directing it at her.  If he ever did that to her . . . Bellaniece shook her head and wrinkled her nose at her flighty thoughts as Kichiro continued to speak.  "Sure, I can do that . . . Don't worry about it, Mama . . . Yes, I'm sure."

'Mama?' Bellaniece echoed as her eyes widened.  'He calls his mother, 'Mama'?'

'I think that's rather cute,' her youkai piped up.

'I think it's rather . . . childish,' Bellaniece shot back with an inward snort.  'And he has the nerve to call me 'little girl'?  Oh, just wait till he's off that telephone . . .'

'You can't do that, you know.'

'Why not?'

'Because you said you were going to kill him with kindness, remember?  Business only, Belle.  Your rules, remember?'

'Oh, right.  That bites.  If the situation were reversed, he'd rub my nose in it.  I'll just have to remember it for later.'

'You're really asking for trouble.'

'I'm not scared of him.'

'Maybe you should be.'

'I don't think so.'

'You know that phrase, 'playing with fire'?'

Bellaniece wrinkled her nose.  'Yeah.'

'Well, that's what you're doing.  Kichiro Izayoi . . . He could chew you up and spit you out.'

'He's not so tough.  He's a . . . a jerk.  He's been nothing but a jerk to me.'

'He might be a jerk, Belle, but he's a sexy as hell jerk . . . and those types are the most dangerous.'

Bellaniece sighed.  'I know.'

Kichiro dropped the phone receiver back into the cradle and turned his attention back to the case file.  Pushing his glasses up his nose before jotting a few notes in the margin of the document, he propped his elbow on the desk and braced his face with an index finger against his temple and his thumb perched under his chin with the remaining fingers curled against his lips.  Ears twitching as he kept reading, Bellaniece had to restrain the desire to march right over there and latch onto his ears.  "Is there something else you wanted, little girl?" he asked without looking up.

Bellaniece snorted inwardly, snapping herself out of her bemusement as she unfolded her arms and straightened her back.  "Your last appointment of the day cancelled."

"Oh?  I suppose you and Mai can go home."

"Good evening, then," she agreed in a pleasant enough tone.

"Belle-chan," he called after her as she turned to go.

"Yes?" she asked, pausing with her hand on the handle.

"Next time you might want to wipe the drool off your chin."

Bellaniece swung around to meet his challenge and stopped short at the entirely too amused glint that lit the depths of his golden gaze.  "Excuse me?"

Kichiro chuckled nastily.  "You don't think I didn't notice you ogling me, did you?"

Snapping her mouth closed as indignant color washed into her cheeks, Bellaniece didn't trust herself to speak as she jerked the door open and stalked out of the office with Kichiro's laughter trailing in her wake.

'I told you not to be so obvious about it,' her youkai chided.

'I wasn't ogling him!  I do not ogle!'

'Oh, sure you do . . . at least you have good taste.'

'That isn't even funny,' she huffed as she flopped down in her chair, drawing a suspect glance from Mai, 'and even if I was ogling, his personality completely undermines the entire effect.'

'Who says you have to like his personality to appreciate the fact that he has a damn fine body?'

'I do.'

'Yeah, you do, and that's the problem, isn't it?'

Bellaniece sighed.  'Yeah, it is.'

Cain refused to go anywhere near Gin for the rest of the class.  The one time he started over that way, the students had started giggling all over again, and Cain thought better of it since Gin really didn't have a clue, just what she'd said that started the laughter, in the first place.

'No doubt about it, Cain: you've got to talk to her.  You've got to explain to her that sometimes she says things . . .'

'It's not my place to tell her anything of the sort.'

'If not yours, then whose?'

'Her father's, maybe?'

'Obviously her beloved papa hasn't seen fit to say anything about it.  She'll get herself into more trouble with her innocent words than it's worth . . . Gotta say, I still don't like him.  You know, we really could take him, if we wanted to . . .'

'I'm not fighting Gin's father.'

'And why not?  You don't seriously think he could beat us, do you?'

'Pfft!  Don't be absurd.'

'Anyway, you've got to say something to her.  Just . . . be nice.'

'Nice . . . right . . .'

Cain leaned against his desk as the students filed out of the classroom.  Gin lingered as she stowed her sketchbook in her bag and carefully put the pencils away.  Leaving the bag on her desk, she slowly wandered toward him, the fullness of her pink skirt swaying with her movements.  Cain forced his eyes up to her face, and grimaced at the pensive look in her expression.

She stopped in front of the first desk and hopped up onto it, crossing her ankles as she swung her feet.  "Did I say something strange?" she finally asked, twisting her fingers together in a decidedly nervous fashion.

Cain hesitated before answering, unsure how to explain it to her without embarrassing her.  "Not strange," he finally said, measuring his words carefully.  "Just . . ." he sighed, lifting his hand and letting it drop as he struggled to find a way to explain things to her.  "Sometimes when you say things, you don't really realize how they sound."

She blinked quickly as she shook her head.  "And that's why everyone was laughing?"

"Uh . . . yeah."

"But I didn't.  All I said was that you could do . . . me . . . No-o-o-o . . ." she trailed off, fingers shooting up to fold together over her mouth as her eyes widened in shock.  "Kami, that's not . . . I didn't . . ."

"I know you didn't mean it that way," he assured her, wincing as her cheeks darkened painfully, as her ears drooped and her chin fell.  "Gin . . ."

"Oh, that's really embarrassing," she muttered, smashing her ears down flat against her head.  "Do I . . . Do I say stuff like that . . . a lot?"

Cain sighed as he covered his eyes with his hand.  "Yeah . . . Yeah, you do."

"I'm sorry . . . I don't mean to . . . I . . . oh, I . . . I'm stupid."

His hand dropped as he shook his head vehemently.  "You're not stupid.  Don't say that.  Don't even think it.  You're . . . You're . . ."

Cain closed his eyes for a moment, turned his head to the side.  Gin was staring at him, waiting for him to finish his sentence.  He just . . . He couldn't.

'Say it, Cain . . . just say it!  You know what you're thinking; I know what you're thinking.  Just say it.  She deserves to hear it, doesn't she?'

"You're . . . special."

His youkai sighed.  Cain ignored the truth that ate at him.  'Coward.  Special?  That's not what you wanted to say.  You wanted to say that she's—"

'Shut up.'

'—Beautiful.'

He winced inwardly.  Why was it that he could deal with being tai-youkai, he could create sculptures and paintings and not give a second thought to letting the pieces go, didn't care about critiques or public opinion, but when faced with the idea of saying one little word to the girl staring at him, he just couldn't do it?

"I'm special?" Gin repeated quietly as her face brightened with reluctant optimism.  "I am?"

Cain tried to smile, but he just couldn't do it.  "Yeah, you are."

Gin bit her lip, shrugging as she blushed all over again, but this time her ears remained straight, and she grinned.  "Maybe you can tell me whenever I do that," she suggested.  "Then I'll know what not to say."

Cain finally smiled, too.  "You think you'll figure out how to tell for yourself?"

"I'll try."  She slid off the desk and started gathering pencils and supplies that the other students had left behind.  "Have I told you lately how glad I am you decided to stay here?"

"No.  Are you?" he asked with a smile.

She nodded.  "Uh-huh!"  Pausing in her work, she frowned suddenly and shot him a quick glance.  "Cain?  Can I ask a favor of you?"

"Okay," Cain agreed as he tilted a sketch to critique it.

She cleared her throat and squared her shoulders as Cain glanced up from the sketch.  "I wondered . . . I mean, would you teach me?"

He blinked in confusion.  "Isn't that what I'm doing now?"

Gin shook her head and stuffed the pencils into a plastic bin before dusting off her hands and hurrying back toward him.  "Yeah, sure, but that's not what I meant.  I want you to teach me; really teach me."

"Teach you what?" he asked, intrigued by her request despite the voice in his head that told him that it might not be a good idea.

"Oh, everything!  You . . . You're almost three hundred years old, right?  You can teach me a lot, you know? About painting and sculpting, and . . . just everything!  Please?"

Cain rubbed his eyes, stalling for time as he tried to figure out how to answer Gin's enthusiastic question. "Why me?"

"Why not you?  I mean, you like me, right?  And I like you, so . . . will you be my—what's the English word?  Oh yes . . . will you be my master?"

'Dear God, she's done it again,' his youkai moaned.

'Shut up, will you?  She didn't mean . . . Just shut up!'

'Are you considering it, Cain?  You realize, right?  Gin Izayoi is a walking, talking accident just waiting to happen.  The girl needs to be surrounded by flashing yellow caution lights!'

Cain snorted and opened his mouth to say 'no'.  She smiled, clasping her hands in front of her as she held her breath, waiting for his answer.  Cain sighed.  "All right, Gin . . . just . . . Uh, don't call me 'master', all right?"

She squealed and clapped her hands moments before she threw herself against him in a quick hug.  Cain winced at the pitch of the noise as well as the momentary contact.  Gin let go and stepped back, twirling around as she laughed.  "Thank you, thank you, thank you!  I'll work really hard, and I promise I'll do whatever you say!  Thank you, Cain!  You won't be sorry!"

Cain slowly shook his head.  He was already sorry.  Teaching Gin everything he knew?  He wasn't going to walk away from this unscathed, he just knew it.