InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Final Bow ❯ If the desk is a'rockin ( Chapter 8 )
Disclaimer; inay onay nwoay yashnay nday ompanykay. Ot it ga? That was the disclaimer in pig Latin…don't look at me like that, I'm just trying to expose you to some culture! (he he he)
AN; Hey. Bet you didn't expect to hear from me so soon, huh? Ha, thought I'd shock you all and update again, and…well, I was inspired so I went with it. Its another short one, but it goes along well with the last chapter. The next one may be longer, but then again maybe not. I can do these little 3500 word chapters much faster than I can spit out the 8000 word ones so we'll just see what happens and go with it.
Much kudos to my wonderful reviewers and my beta who is also wonderful, and just crazy enough to accept the challenge of correcting all the mistakes in my inane prattle! Well anyways, not to much to say so I'll just get on with it…
The Final Bow
By; Undecidedly Certain
Chapter Eight
If the Desk is A'Rockin'
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Kagome stared in stunned awe at the portrait. It was beautiful, it was masterful, it was her exact image right down to the miko robes she was currently wearing, it was…really giving her the creeps.
She slowly walked around the large, neatly arranged desk to stare up at the portrait. It looked old. Really old, but how was that possible?
Unable to resist the temptation any longer she pulled the high backed leather chair from behind the desk and pushed it up in front of the fire place. The chair looked more like a thrown than a desk chair making Kagome roll her eyes as she slid off her sandals to stand on the seat.
`It suits him though,' she thought smugly, the number of qualms she had with the Hollywood mogul were rising by the minute.
Reaching up with tentative hands she gently ran her fingers over her painted face. Her image was turned slightly to the side gazing at something off to her right that only she could see, one delicate hand raised as if reaching for something. A serene smile was on her face, and her eyes were light with happiness.
It was truly amazing how well the artist had captured the mood of the moment. She could tell that her identical twin, who ever she may be, was incredibly happy at this moment in her life.
The only real difference she could see between the painting and herself was a small scar depicted vertically down the paintings cheek, almost like a permanent tear stain, and a strange ancient symbol at the crook of her neck. It reminded her of a henna tattoo.
Something around the girls neck in the painting caught her eye. It was a necklace of some sort with a large pinkish pearl on it. It was kind of gaudy, just to have that big opalescent pearl hanging from a string, but who was she to judge. The pearl its self was very pretty, perhaps she got it as a gift, maybe even from a lover.
She knew she shouldn't be touching the painting, old oil paintings are easily damaged by the oils on peoples hands, but she just couldn't seem to stop her self from reaching up and brushing her fingers across the pinkish ball.
A jolt rushed through her finger tips as they made contact, and a rush of disembodied voices soared through her ears. She felt dizzy, but no vision came this time. Just voices…
{A light tinkling of laughter that she could associate as her own floated overhead accompanied by the deep rumbling of a male chuckle.
"If you don't stand still she will mess up and you will look even more constipated than usual." her voice whispered with barely contained mirth.
A low rumbling growl responded sending shivers up her spine.
Kagome heard herself giggling at his irritated tone. "Aw Sesshou, you know I have to tease you."
There was a swish of fabric followed by a squeak of surprise, then more giggling and a few playful sounds of protest. Then it was quiet for a moment.
"Sesshou…I think I am in love with you." she heard herself whisper. A soft, almost comforting growl was her only response before it faded out completely.}
Kagome was left a little dizzy and confused. That was much different than the others. She'd had the visions with sound, but never the sound with no visions. This just kept getting weirder and weirder.
Slowly, almost regretfully she pulled her hand away from the painting and turned to climb off the chair only to be startled out of her mind when she found that someone was standing on the other side of the desk glaring at her.
Kagome jumped at the unnoticed intrusion and lost her footing, falling unceremoniously to the floor behind the desk landing hard on her chin and elbows. With a groan she pushed herself up gingerly rubbing her sore chin and pulled herself up with the ledge of the desk.
She rested her arms on the smooth surface once she was in a kneeling position and muttered a disgruntled "ouch", raising her eyes to meet a very annoyed pair of hazel on the other side.
"Do you know what the word private means Miss. Higurashi?" Sesshoumaru snapped tersely. "Or do I need to supply you with a dictionary?"
Kagome's cheeks reddened with embarrassment at being caught snooping around his private office before she remembered why she was here to begin with. Her courage found and her ire rising, Kagome pushed herself to her feet, schooling her features into a look of fierce determination.
"We need to talk." She said stately, crossing her arms over her chest in a no nonsense manner.
"Indeed." He said placing both hands palms down on his desk leaning over it toward her. "I will start. What are you doing in my private study, damaging an irreplaceable ancient oil painting, might I add while standing in my chair?"
Kagome gaped at him for a brief moment before regaining her momentum and mimicking his position and leaning toward him with a dangerous glint in her eyes.
"I was looking for you." She ground out. "And what in the depth of hell do you think your doing telling your little girl that her mother doesn't want her?"
Sesshoumaru looked taken aback for a moment before his glare dropped to a sub-zero level. "It is none of your concern what I tell Rin, do not presume that I will allow you to sift through my personal business and use my child as a source of information."
Kagome's mouth opened in outrage. How dare he accuse her of drilling Rin for personal information like that. What a… "Listen here you…you…asshole! For your information Rin told me that she wished I could be her mommy and when I told her that it might hurt her real mothers feelings she said that her mother didn't want her. I wasn't 'sifting through your business' nor was I drilling Rin for information you pompous son of a…"
The fire in her eyes was burning him alive. The bright flush of her cheeks and the way her hair was spilling softly over her shoulder was nearly his undoing. He had to stop her before he could no longer control himself, so he halted her angry tirade by gently placing two fingers over her mouth, which promptly snapped shut.
She pouted and gave him an indignant glare and he had to fight the urge to smile at her antics.
"I apologize." he started slowly, letting the words sink in and her anger to ebb before he continued. When her glare softened slightly he resumed. "I tend to be …protective where Rin is concerned."
Kagome gave a slight nod, her soft lips brushing against his warm fingers. Seeing that she would not start up again he removed his hand.
"Not that it is any of your business," he smirked when her glare returned full force, but quickly went on before she could start berating him again. "Rin is my adopted daughter. Six years ago she was left on my doorstep in a basket with nothing but a blanket, a soiled diaper, and a note saying that her parents couldn't keep her."
Kagome's eyes widened and clouded slightly with tears. This fascinated Sesshoumaru, she was so compassionate…it couldn't be healthy to have such violent mood swings.
"So you adopted her?" She asked in a much softer tone than she had been using a few moments prior.
At his curt nod Kagome smiled softly and leaned forward closing the small space between them over the desk and pressed her lips fully to his. It took all his resistance not to groan and grab her right then and there.
The kiss was chaste and over far too soon leaving a confused Sesshoumaru and a blushing Kagome. Wasn't she angry at him not to long ago for doing the same thing? This woman would be the death of him for sure.
"What was that for?" he asked softly, watching with amusement as she averted her eyes from meeting his own fully.
"For being a good man." Kagome said quietly before turning her eyes back to him. "But your still an asshole. You don't tell a child that her mother doesn't want her!" She scolded, but in a much more civil tone than before.
Somewhere in the back of her mind, her psyche was doing a little victory dance at the fact that Sesshoumaru didn't have an estranged ex floating around out there some where waiting for child support and causing trouble.
She didn't dwell on it.
"It is the truth." He said plainly.
Rolling her eyes Kagome retorted. "Did you not ever consider what that would do to her feelings of self worth? That kind of thing can scar a child for life."
"I will not lie to her." He stated plainly. "She has plenty of people who care for her, she knows she is worthy of love, she does not need the worthless woman who bore her to make her life complete."
Kagome was stuck between wanting to slap the man and kiss him again. The latter sounded better to her, but she settled for an aggravated sigh and a staring contest.
They stayed like that for a while, both seemingly assessing the other as they leaned across the expanse of the desk toward each other.
Finally, unable to take the silence any longer, Kagome broke it. "So, you want to explain why you have a painting of me over your fire place?" She raised an eyebrow at him. "Are you a stalker?" She asked, narrowing her eyes in suspicion as she waited for his answer.
Sesshoumaru watched her with a blank expression waiting for her to make some sign that she was joking. Nothing. She was serious. He couldn't hold it in any longer. Sesshoumaru Takishima laughed.
Kagome's eyes widened with surprise and she leaned back as if he'd suddenly grown another head. She rarely saw the man smile and had never seen him laugh, yet the sound was strangely familiar. Deep and rich, it rumbled through her warming her heart.
She had heard it before though…when she touched the painting…that was his voice and his laugh that she was hearing!
"Kagome, that painting is over five hundred years old." He said with a soft smile as his bout of insanity receded.
"This is getting scary Sesshoumaru." She said seriously, wrapping her arms around herself as she turned to look up at the painting. "When I touched it…I ..heard voices."
Sesshoumaru sobered immediately. "What kind of voices?" He was past the point of thinking her daft. If that was the case then he was long gone as well.
"Happy voices…laughing…it was my voice and yours as well…"
"What did they say?"
"Nothing much. I think I said you looked constipated and then you…you growled at me."
A lone elegant eyebrow raised at this statement. He looked constipated? That certainly sounded like something Kagome would say, but he … "Growled?"
"Yeah, you know…GRRRR." She tried to imitate the noise, but only ended up sounding rather foolish. "Well, it was more …I don't know…dog-ish than that, but you get the point."
"And there was nothing else said?" He asked.
"No." She lied a little too quickly. Sesshoumaru caught it and sent her a look, but didn't push her about it. "Just more laughing."
"Hn."
Sesshoumaru gazed thoughtfully at the painting. Some how this all had to be connected, but how?
"Sesshoumaru, I don't know about yours, but my visions have been getting more intense." She stated, fidgeting nervously with the billowy sleeve of her top. "It seems to be somewhat following the story of the script." She added sending a guarded glance at him. "You-you don't happen to have an explanation for that do you?"
"I wish I did."
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"Where could she have run off to?" Sango sighed in frustration as she made her way down the hall with Yash and Jakotsu.
"Who knows, that wench is nuts." Inuyasha grumped good naturedly. He was actually pretty fond of Kagome, not that he would let it show.
"I would like to finish her fitting today." Jakotsu sighed taking off his stylish glasses to rub the bridge of his nose dramatically before turning to Inuyasha with a smirk. "you know, you are very sexy when your irritated." He purred, placing his hand on Yash`s arm.
"Ack! What the hell!" Inuyasha yelled, roughly pushing Sango between himself and the odd designer. "I don't swing that way buddy." He glared over Sango the human shield.
"I was merely making a friendly comment." Jakotsu commented offhandedly.
"Friendly my ass." Inuyasha grumbled.
"Yes," Jakotsu sighed almost dreamily, "that would be nice."
"Ew!" Sango and Yash shouted at the same time. Jakotsu simply shrugged and continued down the hall.
As they reached the end the only room left was Sesshoumaru's private study and as Inuyasha informed them, he almost never let anyone in there. Just as they were about to turn and head back they heard voices coming from behind the thick oak door, one of them decidedly female.
"Go slow…just incase it hurts…" A soft voice floated through the door that sounded remarkably like Kagome. All three eavesdroppers had wide eyes and raised eyebrows at her statement.
A grunt was Sesshoumaru's only response.
"Well that was anticlimactic." Kagome said flatly after a moments pause, causing Inuyasha to gape like a fish.
"I don't feel anything…maybe a little harder?" Kagome said softly.
Sango's jaw dropped and Inuyasha snickered. "I always knew he was too girly to be a real man!"
Sango popped him in the arm before leaning forward to place her ear on the door. The men on either side of her were quick to follow her lead.
"This is uncomfortable, did we have to do it on your desk?" Kagome asked sounding a little peeved.
"Oh…my…god…" Sango whispered, leaning a little heavier on the door.
"Where would you prefer?" Sesshoumaru's deep voice resonated easily through the door. "Anywhere else we'd be sure to be interrupted."
A few moments passed quietly and the three outside the door waited with baited breath for what would be said next.
"This isn't working." Kagome said in a sing songy voice that clearly portrayed her boredom.
"That's because you wont be silent for more than two seconds." Sesshoumaru snapped, obviously irritated.
Inuyasha snickered and pressed himself more firmly against the door trying to hear some more solid evidence that they were doing what he thought they were doing on the other side of that door. Unfortunately the combined weight of the three of them leaning on the door was just enough to dislodge it from the jamb sending the three eavesdroppers sprawling in a heap on the floor just inside Sesshoumaru's office.
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After a few minutes of deliberation Sesshoumaru and Kagome decided that maybe avoidance wasn't the best way to deal with their current situation. Obviously the visions were going to come and it was like putting the pieces in some strange puzzle. Perhaps if they completed the puzzle the strange happenings would cease.
They wrote down on a legal pad from Sesshoumaru's desk a rough rendition of what had occurred so far, deciding that keeping some sort of log would be beneficial. The most disturbing fact so far was Naraku's involvement, but there was nothing they could do at present about that.
Most of the visions seemed to be spurred by some sort of physical contact either with another person or with an object, so they decided to try to conjure them deliberately. They seated themselves across from each other at his desk and stared at each other for a moment before Kagome burst out giggling.
Sesshoumaru gave her a severe look and she tried her best to stifle her laughter. He was just so serious about everything, she couldn't help it. She forced her face into a serious expression and leaned forward a little in her chair reaching her hands out toward where his were patiently waiting.
She paused just before they touched. "go slow…just incase it hurts."
He grunted and suppressed the urge to roll his eyes at her and they pressed their palms together, waiting for something to happen. Nothing did.
"Well, that was anti-climatic." Kagome commented with a frown. "Maybe a little harder…I don't feel anything."
Sesshoumaru sighed and pressed his hands a bit more firmly against her own.
Not even a minute later Kagome complained. "This is uncomfortable…did we have to do it on your desk?"
This time Sesshoumaru didn't restrain himself as he rolled his eyes at the insufferable young woman across from him. "Where would you prefer? Anywhere else we would be interrupted."
Kagome was quiet for a moment, content to just stair at their hands while she swung her legs restlessly beneath her chair. She reminded him very much of Rin in that moment.
"This isn't working." She said in a sing song voice that grated on his nerves like nails on a chalk board.
"That's because you wont be silent for more than two seconds." He snapped.
Just as she opened her mouth to fuss at him for getting so snappy the door flew open and in dropped three bodies in a heap to the floor in a cursing, squealing mass of arm and legs.
The three bodies on the floor, now identified as Sango, Inuyasha, and Jakotsu quickly disentangled themselves and sprung to their feet. Sango had her hand over her eyes, Jakotsu had turned his head to look at the back wall, but Inuyasha was staring wide eyes at the two seated across from each other at the desk….fully clothed.
"Hey," he shouted with a stunned and confused look on his face. "You're not naked!"
At his proclamation several things happened in rapid succession; Sango and Jakotsu snapped their gazes toward the couple at the desk, Sesshoumaru raised an inquisitive brow at his brother, and Kagome did a remarkable impression of a sputtering tomato.
"Why would we be naked? " Sesshoumaru asked calmly.
"Well we were looking for Kagome…and we heard voices…it sounded like… we thought…" Sango stuttered getting almost as red as Kagome.
"We thought you were going at it like dogs in heat on your desk." Inuyasha finished for her.
Kagome went over their conversation mentally thinking about what it must have sounded like from outside the door, then squawked in humiliation and slipped off the chair to hide behind Sesshoumaru's desk. Sesshoumaru gave the three an irritated look that they clearly took as a dismissal.
"I just need to finish up with your fitting whenever your ready Kagome." Jakotsu called out to the embarrassed girl who was still hiding under Sesshoumaru's desk as the trio scuttled out the door to avoid Sesshoumaru's wrath.
"You can come out now Kagome." Sesshoumaru called to her once they were alone again.
"No!" Kagome said miserably. "I've never been so embarrassed in my life."
"I find that hard to believe as clumsy as you are." Sesshoumaru stated blandly, knowing it would irk her.
"Hey!" She said, her dark head popping up from the other side of the desk like a gofer emerging from its hole.
Sesshoumaru smirked at his victory causing Kagome to pout at being tricked and slowly pulled herself to her feet.
"You had better go finish your fitting with Jakotsu." Sesshoumaru rose to his feet, biting back a chuckle at the horrified look on her face.
"Do I have to?" she wined, giving him her best doe eyes. "I was hoping I could hide out in here for the rest of the day."
"Jakotsu is a busy man, it is best not to keep him waiting."
Kagome scowled at him crossing her arms across her chest. "You're doing this on purpose." She grumped, giving him the evil eye and looking about as menacing as kitten baring its claws.
Sesshoumaru allowed a small smile to tilt his lips. "Perhaps."
Kagome 'hmph'ed' and marched out the door, sending one last glare over her shoulder before she disappeared down the hall.
He sat down at his desk, grinning like the mad hatter at her discomfiture. She was so sensitive. They would have to resume their quest for answers later, but at present there was work to be done.
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A/N; he he he! How'd you like my title? Ok, ok, so it was a little corny, sue me. No wait, don't, I don't have any money! Anyways, as always, show your love and review! If I get a bunch of them I might just update again this week.
Hope you enjoyed.
U.C.