InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Stealing Heaven ❯ The Advantage of Misunderstanding ( Chapter 13 )

Chapter Thirteen

The Advantage of Misunderstanding

Kagome swallowed a nervous giggle as she forced a stiff, clueless smile. "What are you talking about? I don't know what you think you heard, but-"

"Wow, you must think I'm an idiot," he quipped with a chuckle. "It's simple," he continued, raising his other hand to gently sweep her hair back over her shoulder. "I will keep my mouth shut about you and the professor if I can get a little of what he's getting."

Her jaw dropped and for a long moment she simply couldn't form a response, not even in her head. She thought he was a nice guy . . . aside from his flirtatious nature- could it be that wasn't just a flirt, but really a letch like his past reputation hinted at? She let her eyes fall to his hand as it came to rest on her shoulder.

"No, Miroku!" She shrugged out from beneath his touch and sidestepped along the wall to put space between them, then it occurred to her that perhaps he'd not thought this through. "You've got to be kidding me. Don't you know what telling other people would do to Professor Taisho's career?"

His brow furrowed, but sooner than he could allow it to sink in, his mouth was going again. "Well, I could always go to the Professor and tell him I know, tell him that I can't . . . in good conscience let you two keep at this."

Kagome felt her teeth clench so hard she thought she'd pop a filling. He'd pegged her weakness as surely as Nah Rah Ku had. If he told the Professor . . . well, hell, there was no way she could talk herself out of that, no matter how much she internally rehearsed what-if responses. She couldn't let this happen! Worse yet, there was a snowball's chance in hell that Miroku would believe she was a virgin after the sounds he'd heard her making- what if he demanded more of her than even the demon had?

"You," she tried, her voice faltering a little, "you really can't be asking this, Miroku, you can't, okay?"

Miroku propped a hand on his hip, scratching at his scalp with the other. "Um, why not?"

She cracked open the classroom door and peered inside quickly, finding the professor only just beginning to stir from his nap. "Because it's wrong- like wronger than what you heard happening, okay? You have to know that," she hissed in an unhappy whisper as she let the door close again.

"Are you going to give me a lecture about two wrongs not making a right?"

Instantly she was picturing Sango's face if she found herself in the position of having to share this discussion with her friend. "Oh my gods," she muttered, feeling herself on the verge of tears, "I can't believe Sango has fallen for an asshole like you."

Miroku gave a start at that, pulling himself out of his normal, slouching posture to stand pin-straight. "What did you just say?"

"I said you're an asshole."

"No," he said with a shake of his head, before giving an embarrassed laugh at himself. "Before that . . . about Sango."

Kagome blinked a few times, finally dragging her gaze back up to his. "That she's fallen for you." The simple, stark realization came crashing down on her. "You didn't know?"

He turned his back to the wall, letting his weight sink into the solid support of the old brick work. "No . . ." he said slowly, a mystified look on his face. "I thought . . . I thought that she thought we were just messing around. I had no idea . . . ."

She gave a small, relieved laugh. "Can I guess that you wouldn't have even tried this if you knew how she felt?"

He nodded almost imperceptibly, looking just a hint awestruck. "I am so sorry, Kagome, I can't believe I just did that. Gods, I don't . . . what is this place doing to me?"

She just barely held back from blanching at the question- he'd said it to himself, but the phrasing caught her attention. He most likely only meant that he'd never stooped this low before, so it had to be something other than him- she hoped, that was the logical train of thought, after all. Maybe without his realizing it, the site was somehow rubbing off on him. Perhaps it was best to ignore that entirely for the moment, so she went on with the situation at hand.

"Okay," she said, happy that her brain was functioning again. "I'll tell you what- I won't tell Sango what you just pulled if you keep what you know quiet."

He gave another nod.

"No, no. Miroku, I need you to say it. I want your word on this. Promise me!"

"You have my word," he held up his fist, "we keep each other's secret."

Giving a nod of her own, Kagome bumped her fist against his. It was just as their hands dropped that the classroom door creaked open. Professor Taisho stepped out looking mildly confused, the note from Kagome held lightly between his lips as he saw to scooping his hair into its customary pony tail. His gaze swept from one person slouching against the wall to the other and back again. One silver brow quirked incrementally as he switched the note to one of his hands.

"Did I miss something?"

"No," Kagome said, forcing a light smile. "Miroku came to tell you the truck's ready now and we bumped into each other after I left you that," she pointed to the piece of paper.

"Yeah, let me go get her from the garage." Miroku piped up with a nod and pushed away from the wall to trot down the corridor.

"Is everything alright?" Professor Taisho asked quietly as they heard the door to the school open and close.

"Fine, why?"

Amber eyes roved for a moment. "No reason." The confused expression came into his face again as he opened his mouth and extracted the wad of gum. "When did I . . . ?" Shaking his head, he put the gum into the paper and balled it up as he turned on a heel. "Are you coming?"

Kagome nearly choked on a gulp of air at that poorly worded question falling from the professor's lips- oh, if only he knew- despite her calm demeanor with Miroku, her body was still winding down from The Thief's visit. "Um, I'll be a minute, I need to use the rest room."

Nodding, he turned back, holding out the keys to her. "I can trust you to lock up behind yourself, can't I?"

She took them, offering a nod in response and heading off for the teachers' restroom. Once inside she flicked the switch, bringing a single bare bulb to life and spun to rest her back against the door for a long moment. Disaster had been averted. At least on one level. Prying herself from the worn wood, she went about using the facilities, a little surprised to see the wounds on her leg. It already felt like forever ago, but she remember the burning tingle of Nah Rah Ku's claws piercing her skin.

Kagome felt a little silly venturing out of the toilet stall with her pants- yet again- around her ankles. Shaking her head at her own reflection in the scuffed and aged mirror, she grabbed a rough brown paper towel and ran cold water over it. She gritted her teeth tightly, bracing herself as she pressed the makeshift compress over the broken skin. It forced a hissing breath to escape her lips. Gods, she hoped she didn't have any more incidents that involved physical examinations- she had no clue how she'd explain this.

She could feel Lyka chuckling lightly in the back of her head. Certainly she'd been quiet when they'd been faced with The Thief, but then Kagome knew that it was only because Lyka finally grasped that her host's temper wasn't something to be trifled with and feared the potential backlash from Kagome's responding anger. The spirit was still luxuriating in the afterglow of what the demon had given them. Oh, and how Kagome hated thinking of this speck of Lyka's consciousness as part of herself, but until she could remove it, that was sort of how things were. Perhaps there was a way she could communicate with it?

A light grimace flickered across her features at the thought as Kagome righted her clothing. She was pretty sure she didn't want to listen to anything Lyka had to say. It was strange, but in this context it was almost as though she trusted Nah Rah Ku, but refused to trust Lyka, but then- she reasoned as she dried her hands and switched off the light to exit back into the corridor- The Thief had never pretended to be anything more than what he was, he'd never actually lied to Kagome. Certainly, he'd manipulated her, but he'd done it using the truth, both about himself and about her situation. Lyka, on the other hand, had made herself seem like some helpless lingering entity that had needed Kagome's aid. She would be damned if she was going to let Lyka pull the wool over her eyes again.

Fool me once, she thought with a shake of her head as she pushed the main door open and stepped out into the bright mid-afternoon sunlight, remembering somewhat absently to lock it behind her.

"Higurashi, over here," she heard, turning toward the professor's voice to see him standing outside of the town's single, barren and rundown little cafe.

He was holding a large paper cup, but didn't appear to be sipping from it, only inhaling deeply of the contents. Even from a distance the sunlight brightened his eyes and threw dazzling streaks of glittering stark-white throughout his hair. She was reminded of one of her previous- and markedly more frivolous- thoughts about their situation. That things would probably be easier on her if he wasn't so damned pretty.

Quirking a brow, she wandered over to join him, aware of the sound of their rented truck bumbling up the road behind her. Miroku pulled up in front of the professor just as she reached him. She handed Professor Taisho back his keys and continued to watch him curiously.

After a moment, he cracked a barely perceptible wisp of a half-grin and held the cup toward her. "Tell me what you smell."

Kagome took half a step backward, her face pulling into a scowl that was equal parts curious and mistrustful. "Why?"

Amber eyes narrowed fractionally. "Tell me what you smell," he repeated evenly.

Her own eyes rolling, she stepped toward him again and leaned over the cup, inhaling lightly. "Oh . . . my gods," she took a much deeper breath this time, "is this . . . ." she didn't want to finish the question, it seemed too good to be true.

The professor gave a small nod. "Real coffee."

She couldn't help squeaking out a gasp of delight. Not entirely thinking it through, she slid her fingers up over his hand and tipped the cup to her lips, taking a long swig of wonderfully rich, pure, real coffee. Blue eyes drifted closed as she pulled the cup away a little and savored the wonderful- wonderful, wonderful- taste. Opening her eyes again, she saw Professor Taisho staring down at her.

She wished moments like this were how things could always be between them. The knowledge that they couldn't made her heart ache.

After a moment of staring at one another in silence, the professor finally said, "I could simply get you one of your own."

"Oh," she managed an embarrassed giggle at herself, "sorry. Um, if you don't mind, yes, I'd very much like a cup."

Nodding, he slid his hand from her fingers and turned to walk back to the cafe counter.

"OH, could we get some grounds to bring back, maybe?" she called almost thoughtlessly.

He turned his head, not enough to look at her, only to acknowledge that he heard her. "I'll see if that's possible."

Grinning like a fool- who knew coffee could be so powerful- she climbed into the back of the truck. It was oddly refreshing to be able to buckle her seat belt. When she looked up from this, she caught Miroku's gaze in the rear view mirror.

"Listen Kagome," he muttered, swinging his gaze around to keep it locked on his boss still in the cafe. "I want to just . . . say I'm really sorry, again."

"We don't have to talk about this ever again, ya know." Really, she'd be happy if she could strip the memory right out of her head.

"I . . . had no idea you and Professor Taisho are actually in a relationship."

Kagome almost jumped out of her skin at those words, alone. ". . . What?"

"I'm sorry, okay. I seriously thought you two were just . . . ya know, messing around."

She thought her heart was going to stop. "Miroku," she whimpered, her eyes going wide, "what are you talking about?"

"Okay, I think after what happened in the school, I'm probably the one person you don't have to play dumb with, Kagome. I promised you I won't say a word, and I'm going to keep that, but I have to tell you that if you two don't tone it down a bit, more people are going to pick up on what's going on."

"I . . . I'm just . . . what?"

It occurred to Miroku, then, that she simply might not have realized what he'd seen that had triggered the discussion. "Look, okay, yes, we both know I heard what was going on in that classroom. I thought the two of you were just . . . ya know, working out frustrations, fooling around, whatever. But you guys just went all lovey-eyed over a shared cup of coffee. You two just can't do that shit around other people, understand? I mean, now it all makes sense with the way he's been acting when he sees anyone even looking at you at the site, but I think I'm the only one who's really given that any thought since I'm the one that's around him the most. I mean, I thought he was going to rip poor Bruckner's head off."

Kagome rolled her eyes in aggravation, burying her face in her hands. "Oh my gods." But, she supposed, it's not that bad as far as misinterpretations go, at least it seems to have given him more reason to keep his mouth shut.

"Look, I'm hardly one to talk about relationships, but ya know, love is blind. Just . . . try to make sure you guys aren't so obvious anymore, okay?"

She managed a numb nod, letting her hands fall back into her lap as the professor made his way out of the cafe.

"One more thing," he muttered.

"Seriously?" she whined as Professor Taisho neared the vehicle.

"Have you told Sango about you two?"

"Huh?" She gave that a brief second of mulling over, supposing she would at least have to tell Sango about Miroku's misunderstanding of the situation- maybe then Sango could get Miroku to help cover up her trysts with the demon, should such a thing ever be necessary. "Not yet, but I will."

"Once we get back?" he edged lightly as the professor opened the passenger side door.

"Yes, once we get back."

Professor Taisho turned in his seat, handing Kagome her cup and tossing the bag of ground coffee on the empty seat next to her. "Once we get back, what?"

"He just wanted to make sure I let Sango know we've got real coffee," she offered quickly, "Miroku thinks I'll keep it all to myself."

"Dammit, Miroku," the professor said with a light chuckle, "we were going to keep it all to ourselves."

Miroku caught Kagome's gaze in the rear view once more and gave her a reassuring nod. She sat back and opened the flimsy plastic cap on her cup as the truck rumbled to life and started moving. At the moment it was hard to decipher how she felt about what was going on between her and the professor. She was elated that he apparently felt more for her than she had let herself believe, but . . . she couldn't imagine that this knowledge would make the other aspect of her situation any easier on her.

For just a second, though, it was nice to imagine that someday she would have the freedom to get lovey-eyed with Taisho Sesshomaru over a shared cup of coffee in front of anyone they damn well pleased. At last she took a sip of her coffee and nearly burned her lip. Blinking, she pulled it back and peered into the cup. It was filled nearly to the brim. Why hadn't the professor given her the cup she'd stolen that long sip from? It seemed only fair.

She chanced a peek in his direction. The professor wasn't drinking his coffee, merely running the tip of a finger along the rim where the plastic cover opened as he stared off into the lush, passing scenery. Angling her head a little, she managed to catch a glimpse of his face in the side view mirror. He looked so peaceful, if distracted entirely.

As she pushed herself to sit right again, she realized the spot he looked to be caressing so tenderly was exactly the place where she'd touched her lips to the cup.

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