Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of the characters. And I do not intent to gain any kind of retribution for this work of fanfiction.
Kagome's Tattoo
Chapter 2
Kagome walked as fast as she could to her house, away from him. Her vision was blurry from the unshed tears. She refused to cry for that idiot's words. She couldn't believe she had admired him, even if it was for a short time.
She huffed in a very unlady like way, "Who does he think he is!?". People on the street gave her strange looks as she passed by.
Kagome flicked her hair angrily.
He had a good reputation and was a good enough artist to be able to refuse clients that didn't meet his standards. But he did not have the right to be rude about it.
She stopped walking suddenly with an idea in her mind.
That man had said whatever that was on his mind and she didn't have the opportunity to speak. He had said all that after she had patiently waited for him to decide to acknowledge her presence. But she will make him listen!
Kagome turned and began walking back, crashing with a person behind her in the process.
"Oh! I'm sorry..." She said without looking at the person, having a pleasant surprise when she saw it was her friend "Sango!"
"Kagome!" The girl inspected her looking for something "Are you done? So fast? Where is it?"
Making an uncomfortable face Kagome admitted "I didn't get one..."
"Why?" Sango stroked her back with a sympathetic look on her face. "Got cold feet?"
"What? No!" Kagome signaled behind her "The stupid man threw me out of his shop!"
"He did what? Why?"
Usually Sango was more vocal with her anger than Kagome, and according to her friend it was because Kagome treated everyone with the same patience and understanding as she did with her students. Sometimes she wondered how her everyday would be if she didn't, maybe she would have less moments like the one she just had.
The black haired girl looked down, hiding her chocolate eyes with her bangs. "He didn't approve of my tattoo idea and told me there is no way he will do it, and that I should go and buy some shoes instead..."
Sango's face went from understanding, to indignant, and finally it set on angry. She brushed her hair back with her hands as she stared at Kagome with her other hand on her waist as she tried to breath out some of her anger.
"We are going there Right Now! And we, No! YOU will tell him everything that he deserves! That self righteous ass!"
Kagome looked up with a hopeful face. Sango was right! They should be letting him know what they thought about him with the same freedom that he spoke to her.
But as she looked at the fired up expression of her friend Kagome realized she didn't want Sango there. She loved her friend but if she was going to come back she would go alone and stand her ground.
It wasn't because deep down she wanted to improve his impression of her... of course it wasn't. It was just that It was time to fight her own battles. It was the only reason.
Sango was waiting for her to point the direction, and instead of signaling the path she came from, Kagome pointed to her favorite comfort food restaurant. Korean barbecue, because grilled meat and beer sounded like heaven right now.
It took a several minutes for Sango to notice where they were really going, after all it was the place Kagome always proposed for dinner.
They were almost at the restaurant when Kagome told her about her ideas, and after a short discussion that ended with the promise of not backing down and telling Sango how it went as soon as she was done with it.
The night ended with a tipsy Kagome telling her friend how it will all play out and how much she will enjoy seeing his repentant face after her speech is finished.
...
Two white ears perked up at the sound of certain 'clack clack' on the street. He knew that sound. It was HER. The woman that wanted ther pearl/infinity tattoo.
He had picked up on the special sound and rhythm of her walk the day after she came to his studio, when she was walking home from work, or at least he thought. It was around 5pm that day and he was rearranging the chairs when he saw the woman pass in front of his shop.
Inuyasha was sure she had not seen him as she walked by.
At the sight of her, Inuyasha's heart did a little jump in his chest thinking that maybe she was coming back to him- talk to him.
But just before she reached his studio she sped up and passed it as fast as she could, crushing the hanyou's hope. She had not even turned her head to the building.
The next day things had happened without changes, around the same hour, not that he was paying that much attention to it. She would pass in front of the shop without a single look at him or his shop. This time Inuyasha wondered something new. If everyday she returned from work or wherever she went everyday, it means that she passed in front of the shop one time, before he opened, when she walked from home.
Luckily the next day he had an appointment at 10am. Maybe he should come early to clean the place around 6am, and he would not feel pressure to finish on time and also Miroku wouldn't be making jokes about the 'smell of his den'.
So the third day he woke up before sunrise. NOT because he had any kind of interest or was developing an obsession for the woman. It was because he had important things to do today. He had to make sure his shop was clean and inviting for the customers, plural, not just one!
And he had to revisit Miroku's sketch, to find any kind of mistake or detail that was not good enough. Again, nothing to do with a black haired woman.
He kept repeating the same as he dusted the chairs by the door. It had nothing to do with the way her face had changed from happy expectation as she spoke to him, to end up holding her tears as she stormed out. It also had nothing to do with guilt. He was not feeling guilty.
Inuyasha was placing the last chair back when the sound he had been waiting for reached his ears, he looked at the clock trying to remember the time for later reference. The rhythmic sound of her steps grew closer, he was getting ready to watch her sprint just before reaching his place. But this time it was different.
He was in front of the obscured glass, partially hidden by it as she approached slowly. He had the opportunity to watch her walk leisurely. She looked downright adorable with her hair in a high ponytail and a semi formal skirt suit. For a moment his mind wandered on the possible careers she could have. His musings came to an end when she appeared in front of the glass and she stopped walking.
The hanyou saw her head and chocolate eyes go directly to his "open" sign, and after seeing it turned off, a soft sigh left her lips. Instead of just continuing to walk at a comfortable pace, she slowed down and looked at the sketches he had on display. Inuyasha wished there was no glass in between them, to be able to smell her scent, the inviting and calming scent of her.
As the woman studied the designs Inuyasha couldn't avoid drinking in her image as he would do with his work, memorizing the shape of her face, the way her eyes expressed the infatuation she had with one image in particular, the way her lips curved faintly as she traced the sketch with her fingers, the high nose, and her eyebrows that traveled lower as something broke her enchantment.
Only when her lips formed an 'o' and her eyes became wide as they stared at him was Inuyasha aware of the screeching noise the chair was doing against the floor as he pushed it closer to the glass. She blushed from the neck to her ears, and before he had time to react she sprinted away from him.
Inuyasha felt like an idiot. A true idiot. It was the second time he had any contact with her and was also the second time he had made her run from him.
The hanyou walked to the sketch she had been admiring before escaping. It was his current favorite, the tattoo of the moon, the howling dog and the sleeping man. The design had come to him during a new moon, it had remained as a sketch, he had never offered the tattoo to someone and everyone automatically thought he had made the sketch for someone in particular. It was a simple piece, but it represented something important for him.
Inuyasha felt proud thinking she seemed to like that one specially.
Before he had time to dwell on the subject Miroku arrived and he went into business mode. According to most of the people that knew him, Inuyasha had a one way brain. Only one thing can occupy his attention, so when his friend arrived and asked about his tattoo, everything else left his mind.
Hours later, and after a small lunch to let Miroku rest for a bit and relieve his bladder after finishing today's session, Inuyasha was placing his tools back and cleaning the station when the door opened. He didn't pay attention to it and continued with the cleaning, placing the tints back to their drawers.
At the same time the scent he had wanted to smell in the morning reached his nose, also did an angry voice reach his ears.
"Do I have to wait for half an hour to become visible to you again?" She shouted.
Inuyasha turned to her with a baffled expression, and his ears plastered on his scalp. He saw her take in air through her nose, with a blushed face and her fiery brown eyes.
"Don't worry it won't take that long! I won't take your precious time with one of my stupid tattoo ideas that..." she opened her trembling hands and signaled the sketches that were on the wall.
"...obviously don't measure with your art."
Inuyasha was still blinking at her for a moment before reacting.
"Woah, wait... what?" He asked with a still confused face.
Kagome was trying to appear more confident than she really felt. She had arrived with the sole purpose of telling him that she didn't need him, that she will get the tattoo she wanted because she deserves it! And his opinion had little to no importance to her. But the moment he turned around and his golden eyes focused on her her resolved started to weaken, at least this time she had not lost her voice.
"Yeah! I won't waste your time asking you to do something that is beneath you..."
Inuyasha raised his hands in the universal 'wait a moment' gesture and interrupted her speech.
"Hey! I never said that!"
"Yes you did!"
Kagome was slowly forgetting about being nervous as the silver haired man's attitude changed from shocked to belligerent.
"I never talked about my art. I said your idea was stupid!"
She groaned exasperated "And how is that different?"
Inuyasha gave her a smug smile "It is different because it means it's not only beneath ME..." he mirrored her motion opening his arms and signaling his sketches "It is too stupid to be done by anybody."
She took a sharp breath and took a few steps until her pointing finger made contact with his chest marking each of her words.
"And why is it so stupid? Because your great intellect doesn't understand its meaning?"
Inuyasha took her hand in his own to stop the exasperating tapping.
"What kind of meaning can an infinity symbol have?" his voice went higher and batted his lashes "I am as original as a 100 yen coin? Keh! As deep as puddle!"
Her voice was louder this time and as soon as she starting to talk his ears went low.
"How dare you?!"
His only response was a cocked brow.
"For me it has meaning!"
The man raised his other eyebrow in an expression that yelled 'enlighten me' in a sarcastic way.
If Inuyasha had paid attention to other things beside her face, he would had noticed the pencil behind his ear, the carrier bag with a mathematical symbols print, the calculator that was barely held inside a side pocket, the many paper sheets inside the partially closed bag and the faint scent of children on her. Maybe if he had paid attention to those details he could have saved himself a lecture.
"For starters it's a mathematical symbol. Not a trending fashion design."
Her other hand went up and made contact with his chest. And once again his hand held it to avoid the annoying stabbing finger.
"It was first used in the 17th century and was used to represent numbers that were too big to measure.
Inuyasha's brow furrowed as he wondered if the wench was going to explain the academic use of the symbol.
"In modern times it is used to represent numbers that grow steadily and may never stop growing, a never ending number."
"Keh..." he said in a way she felt was like an inarticulated 'so what?'
"I like the symbol to represent what I feel for my father!" Her voice started to go softer with each word "A never ending and always growing love that stays with me..."
Any lingering intention of fighting this woman ended at the moment her big brown eyes lost her bright determination and became watery and distant.
"...shit" He said almost too soft for her to understand.
Kagome opened her lips to speak when he made a pained expression.
"I'm... I'm..."
"An asshole?" She supplied with a half smile.
Inuyasha let out a dry laugh "Yeah. Yeah, that too. But I'm also sorry... I didn't know how you.. "
Her baffled expression stopped him mid sentence.
"OF COURSE YOU DIDN'T!" Kagome shouted, way too close to his ears for his liking.
With his head thrown back he shouted back "What's your problem wench?"
"You! You are my problem!" She was trying to poke his chest again, an impossible task now that he had both of her hands in his.
"You say sorry and make the excuse of..." Kagome made her voice lower and used an strange accent to mimic him "I didn't know. But of course you didn't because you never gave me the time!"
She straightened her back and gave him a dignified look, a remarkable achievement with her hand held and being easily a foot shorter than him.
"You! You listened to a few words and made a story in your head and in your dumb self righteousness decided why I wanted it and why I didn't deserve it... without listening."
He was ready to retort and argue why she was wrong, he even opened his lips trying to say something but he found himself unable to lie under her fixed stare.
After a few more tries that left him looking like a fish out of the water he settled with a "Keh!" as he evaded said stare.
"That is how my friend says 'You are right' and 'I'm sorry' in one syllable" The deep and honeyed voice came from the farthest corner of the shop.
Both of their heads turned to the man, who was looking at them with his hands in his front pockets of his jeans. The man looked friendly but there was something in his deep blue eyes that was unnerving. He looked like a typical rogue-ish office worker with his royal blue short sleeved button shirt, of course, if you ignored the two tattooed sleeves he sported. The black haired man glided closer as he spoke. "Sorry you had to suffer the sour disposition of my inu hanyou friend, Miss..."
Kagome's eyes darted to the white haired man's head. She knew he had uncommon silver hair, that today was up in a high ponytail, with his bandana on, but now that she was paying attention he was hiding something under that bandana, something that moved... were those doggy ears?
The other man cleared his throat, making her blush as she realized she was staring at him.
".. .Kagome" She completed giving a small smile.
Inuyasha repeated the name in his head, he liked the sound, it was melodic and cute. It fit her quite well.
"Miss Kagome" the black haired man repeated with a flirty smile of his own. That caused two things, the woman's smile vanished at the same time Inuyasha's expression turned sour and gave a short warning growl.
Miroku smiled wider at his friend as he spoke to her. "Nice to meet you Miss Kagome, I'm Miroku, one of the few people brave enough to befriend this grouchy inu hanyou beside you".
"Cut it out Miroku..."
Said man ignored Inuyasha's warning and turned to Kagome "So... are you going to start talking about designs or are we going to get dinner as we go into it?"
.-.-.-.-.-.-
A/N:
I thought this chapter would be the last but l couldn't wrap it here. I think there is at least 1 or 2 chapters.
Thank you for reading.
Every like and review is appreciated, thank you for taking the time to let me know what you think of this.
Also a big thank you to Stoatsandweasels for reading this and help me make it readable for others.
Love,
Nanna
