InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Two Colour Palette ❯ Evil Principles: Getting to Know You ( Chapter 3 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimer: Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi, I'm only playing in the sandbox.

I've decided the first few chapters (i.e, these three and the next) are going to be linked, and then after that I'll probably start jumping from incident to incident, and when I find some prompts that flow, I'll do a series of related chapters - hope that's all right with anyone reading. If you want me to continue as I am, or have any feelings or suggestions about how I plan to write this, feel free to drop me a line. xD And thanks again to reviewers of the last chapter! -hands out cookies-

Getting to Know You

The tea is very nice.

And so is Shu.

They sit, him behind the counter and her in front, and he tells her some of the stories behind his inspiration - and as he said before the tea, they do turn out to be rooted in mythology.

'And history as well, but he didn't mention that, so maybe he doesn't know that all of his 'legends' are actually based on truth...'

He tells her of the harsher, slower lifestyle, the belief in the 'myth' of youkai and the avid fear that humans held of attack and a quick death.

'Not just a belief, but something that's far too real even for reality to cope with. ... I wish I could tell him that.'

When he talks about that fear, the glint in his eyes comes back - that superior, slightly arrogant glint, and one eyebrow arches high in his face, challenging. It compels her to question his points, the urge to defend the human villagers of the past from his modern scepticism welling up from somewhere deep in her chest.

"But surely, the humans had some respect for these yo... er, these theoretical youkai. Even if they just believed they were real, there had to be some admiration for them, some people who weren't scared."

She catches her slip just in time, but her point is reasonable - and she knows it, even if he doesn't.

Shu considers her above the rim of his mug for a few long seconds, and then speaks slowly.

"There are stories of those who weren't scared - who went off into the wilds and came back home with tales of meeting youkai and getting away unscathed." He screws up his nose, but it doesn't make him any less attractive.

"They were ridiculed by their peers, seen as madmen. Others yet claimed they travelled with youkai across the land... and that was a death sentence in any village."

His disdain turns to sadness faster than she can blink, and she takes a sip of her tea to occupy her hands, to stop herself from reaching out and dropping one on his shoulder. Her fingers twitch against the ceramic anyway, and she wonders why she would want to comfort this stranger, this man she's only just met.

Instead of dwelling on it, Kagome changes the subject.

"Maybe you should paint some of these humans, then." she proclaims boldly to the empty gallery, and she can hear her resolve echoing back from the hidden corners and open spaces. "You know, the ones who met the youkai."

Shu raises both eyebrows this time, gazing at her with that same measured look he'd employed earlier, before the tea and before the discussion. Her resolve dwindles away, and she drops her head, focusing very hard on her mug - the white surface, the splotches of dried paint (or is that clay?) and the tea swirling inside. The silence goes on for a little too long, and when it begins to get uncomfortable, she automatically moves to justify herself.

"Ah, sorry Nishimoto-san, I shouldn't have. Your art is beautiful as it is, and I-"

He interrupts.

"I like it."

She blinks, and he repeats, a smile curving the corners of those brown eyes.

"Your idea. I like it. In fact..." The smile reaches out to include his lips, and she can't help but grin weakly back. "... I can think of quite a few pieces I could paint, with humans and youkai." His eyes narrow, but the expression remains. "And it's Shu. Not Nishimoto-san."

The correction makes her roll her eyes, and Kagome relaxes back into her chair, relieved that she hasn't inadvertently caused offence. He keeps watching her, tipping back the rest of his tea and setting the mug down on the desk with a gentle clink.

The silence mulls again, and this time, Shu is the one to fill it.

"You have my thanks, Higurashi-san. I've been having trouble painting recently, and now that you've given me some ideas in our little discussion, I think I'll be able to start producing new material again."

That makes her inordinately happy, and she thinks he probably realises it, because his eyes follow the grin unfolding across her face as surely as she feels her cheeks stretch.

"Really?"

He nods.

"Really. My agent will probably insist that I talk to you again like this, if he finds out that you've been helping me develop some new concepts."

Shu doesn't say it like a hardship - more like an unspoken invitation, careless, offhand. But his eyes speak otherwise, telling her that his request is a serious one. Kagome considers it in the few moments of stillness between words. Now that she knows he is oblivious to the truth behind his paintings, and that he is certainly not a youkai - at least from what her senses say - the offer sounds tempting.

'But can it really be coincidence that he's painted the well? The well, of all things!'

She dismisses the voice of indecision with a small smile to the artist in front of her. No matter what her common sense is whispering in her ear, Shu doesn't seem malicious, doesn't feel malicious, and, from what she's gathered in the last hour or so, certainly doesn't think in a malicious way. Some primal instinct in the pit of her stomach warns her that he isn't harmless, the same instinct that the villagers in the Feudal Era use to survive every day, but she ignores it.

Because, strangely, she trusts this man. In the space of one conversation, he's insinuated himself into her confidence, into her certainty, and she isn't about to chuck him out.

He's just a painter, recreating history in his own unique - truthful - way. And there's nothing evil about that.

'In principle.'

Kagome tells her brain to shut up, and opens her mouth to answer.

But she's too late.

The sound is stolen from her when the door flies open with a bang. Standing in the entrance to the little gallery is none other than Inuyasha - wearing a baseball cap, sans-Tetsusaiga, and looking very, very angry. Shu looks vaguely surprised, and she springs to placate the hanyou before any of the paintings are trashed. Inuyasha gets there first.

"Kagome! You said you'd be back this morning!" Gold eyes narrow on her, watching her every move as she jumps from the chair and scurries across the gallery floor. And all the way, Kagome is rapidly spinning a lie, one that she hopes sounds plausible to Shu's analytical mind.

He'll probably be able to see through her story unless she plugs all the holes, and although she hates lying, sometimes, it is a necessary evil.

"Heh... oh, Inuyasha! I told you I was staying at Yuka-chan's house tonight, did you forget? You know it takes me a while to walk across the city, and I couldn't hope to be back by this morning! But then I saw this gallery - Eri brought us here to buy a present for her mother yesterday - and I thought I'd come and take a look at the paintings. Beautiful, aren't they?"

"Kagome! What-"

She cuts him off with hasty babble, grabbing his arm and dragging him towards the door.

"And then I ended up talking with Nishimoto-san for a while - he has some really interesting stories, y'know? About his art?"

She shoves him through the exit, and looks over her shoulder at the artist in question, who is still sitting behind his desk and watching their progress with raised eyebrows. Internally, she cringes. He must think they're mad!

"Oh, and thank you again for the tea, Nishimoto-san. I hope the painting goes well!"

Her use of the honorific remains, and even though she's been corrected twice by him about his name already, she can't risk inciting Inuyasha's famous temper in front of him, and definitely not in a public place. The baseball cap is sitting precariously as it is, and for Shu to find out that the objects of his paintings are real, living, breathing humans with puppy ears? Probably not a good thing. At all.

The artist opens his mouth to reply, but she's closing the door already, walking quickly down the street followed by an irate hanyou. And then the arguments begin.

&&&

Inside the gallery, Sesshoumaru sits back, head dropping into his hands and a growl rolling from his throat to fall empty in the air.

Stupid past half-brother. He'd been savouring every moment of conversation with the miko, and Inuyasha just had to come in and ruin it.

Bastard.

He stands, taking a deep breath of her scent as he scoops up the empty mugs, walking them up the stairs and into his studio. He leaves them in the small sink at the back of the room, still turning over the different colours of her smell, and picks up his palette.

Sesshoumaru has drawn her many, many times. But this time is different, and he mixes the paint almost mindlessly, senses closed to everything but the captured shades of her, buzzing inside his brain.

He doesn't stop until his phone rings in his pocket, and annoyed, he fishes it out and checks the caller ID. A sadistic smirk twists into life, one he thought he'd abandoned centuries ago.

But the thought of tormenting the older Inuyasha for this morning's 'incident' is enough to bring lost habits to the surface, evil principles back to life.
After all, what's five hundred years between brothers?

He accepts the call, setting down the brush and looking over his work.

"Hello, Inuyasha..."

&&&

Written for Set 1, Prompt 3, Evil Principles, at LJ comm iy_no_kakera. Un-beta'd. Thanks for reading, and reviews are appreciated!