Thanks for all your great responses to Chapter 1! Now, on with the story...
Chapter 2: Headaches & Big Mistakes
Everything that you conceal
is revealed on your canvas
Rin woke the next morning with wild bed-head and a splitting headache.
Never again, she vowed, rolling over to bury her head beneath the pillows in an attempt to ward off the sunshine that streamed through her window. From today on, I solve my problems with ice cream instead.
Four sharp, quick knocks on the door made Rin groan and sink deeper into her soft, warm bed.
"Unless the world is coming to an end, I do not want to be disturbed!" She yelled before immediately wincing at the pain in her head.
She heard the knob twist and the door to her apartment opened with its usual squeaky hinges. Great, she obviously forgot to turn the locks. Lucky she wasn't robbed or murdered during the night...speaking of which, what exactly happened last night?
Rin could vaguely recall saying goodbye to her friends in the restaurant parking lot and then threatening to sue the cab company when her taxi driver refused to sing along to the radio with her. After that, her memory was blank.
Heavy footsteps made their way towards her bedroom and Rin whimpered, pulling the sheets over her head. She could sense that someone was in her room now.
"Rin?" A smooth, low voice came from directly above her, causing her to flinch. "I can very obviously see you. Blankets do not make you invisible."
It was that voice. That silky voice laced with amusement that irritated Rin to no end.
Giving up, her head finally popped out from under the covers, "Go away," she moaned pathetically, "why are you even here?"
Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow as he studied her, "I presume you have no recollection of our agreement, then?"
"Agreement? What...?" Rin's eyes darted from his perfectly cold face to her nearby cell phone and then back again.
Sweet Kami, she had drunk dialled.
"W-what exactly did we agree on?" She asked unsurely, cringing because she really had no idea what to expect.
"You made an offer last night that I simply couldn't refuse. I believe it was well into the second hour of your drunken ramblings, before you started singing show tunes but only after you demanded I order you a pizza." His lips twitched up to form a small, fleeting smile.
He was loving every minute of this.
"I'm already embarrassed, okay? Now could you please just tell me?" Rin pleaded, hiding her face in the blankets once again.
"Stop sulking, it only makes you more pathetic." Sesshomaru commanded, taking hold of the edge of her bed sheets and ripping them back.
When the cool morning air hit her mostly bare body Rin shrieked in surprise, realizing she wore nothing more than her plain grey bra and panties.
Evidently, Sesshomaru was not expecting that surprise either. His eyes widened marginally before they very shamelessly began inspecting her body.
Rin scrambled off the bed and grabbed her robe from the closet, tying it securely at the waist. "Either tell me or leave. I'm getting tired of this." She said, averting her eyes with the hope that her furious blush would go unnoticed. Why oh why did he have to see her in her most unflattering granny panties? Why couldn't she have worn her nice purple push-up bra?
"Very well," His eyes still held such intensity that it appeared he was gazing through the fabric of her robe, seriously unnerving Rin, "Last night you determined that I need to 'lighten up' and that you are the perfect person to show me how. You made me promise, multiple times I might add, that I would come to your apartment at noon today and you would have an afternoon planned for us."
"I said that?" Rin asked, hoping it was a joke even though it was painfully obvious that Sesshomaru never joked.
"You did. Although you gave me your credit card number instead of address, I was able to find you in the phone book. You were exceedingly drunk." He stated blandly.
"Gee, was I really?" She replied with heavy sarcasm.
He chose to ignore her, "I gave you my word that I would be here and so here I am. Though I have to say, you are off to a terrible start on your end of the deal."
"Because I don't remember making a deal! I don't remember anything about last night!" Rin whined, "It was all a blur." Defeated, she sat on the edge of the bed and hung her head.
"Would you like to know what I agreed to do for you, in return?" Sesshomaru's voice was quiet, a stark contrast to Rin's outburst.
She nodded.
"Art." He said simply.
"Wha..?" Rin was caught slightly off guard by his response.
"Your favourite piece of my work is yours. Or if you'd prefer an original, I will paint you something brand new and one-of-a-kind." Sesshomaru stated.
"Really? You agreed to do that for me?" Rin was shocked and flattered. She had always dreamed of owning a Sesshomaru Takeda painting, but it just wasn't in her modest teacher's salary. "Why? I mean, why didn't you just hang up on me in the first place? Why go through all this trouble?"
"So you wish to end our agreement?" His eyebrow raised in question.
She quickly shook her head no. There was no way she was backing out and losing her painting, and maybe a tiny little piece of her wanted an excuse to see Sesshomaru again. She chose to ignore that part though, since it was obviously crazy.
"I'll do it, I'm just curious." Rin clarified.
"I have my reasons." Sesshomaru replied vaguely. His eyes continued to study her from where he had moved to lean casually against the door frame.
In his navy blue sweater with sleeves pushed up to reveal his forearms, Sesshomaru looked like he came straight out of the pages of GQ while Rin was left feeling like a hung-over mess. Life was so unfair.
"Um, okay. So I planned an activity for us. Did I happen to mention what it was?" Suddenly self-conscious, Rin ran a hand through her messy hair in an attempt to tame it.
"I don't know," Sesshomaru replied in his low, even voice, "at that point in the conversation, you hung up to go...relieve your nausea." He finished cryptically and Rin figured the word 'puke' just wasn't in his vocabulary.
"Oh, yikes." She winced.
"I assure you, it was quite charming."
A small, lopsided grin slowly spread across her face, "Wait, did you just made a joke? That was sarcasm, wasn't it?"
"Make yourself presentable, I'll be waiting in the hall. Don't be long." Sesshomaru disappeared from the doorway, once again ignoring her comments.
"You're loosening up already!" Rin shouted as she jumped off the bed and rushed to her closet, "And you thought I was off to a bad start, ha!"
She chose the zoo.
Rin adjusted her sunglasses and took another sip from the take-out coffee cup in her hand. Considering she had no time to put together an event for that afternoon, she was pretty pleased with her result. And she did it with a lingering hangover, to boot.
She had dragged a reluctant Sesshomaru through the whole park, easily making small talk to offset his silence. Rin aww-ed over the lion cubs and sheepishly admitted to having a bird phobia after she had clutched his arm with a death grip for the entirety of their walk through the aviary.
"Enjoying yourself?" She addressed the quiet man beside her with a dazzling smile.
"You're quite peculiar," he responded.
'Yeah? Well you never answer my questions." She pouted. Peculiar, was that a good thing? Something told her it was not.
"I am...not having the worst day of my life." Sesshomaru finally admitted.
"Really? Wow. Thank you." She genuinely meant it. "So tell me, why did you become an artist? I've read all of your interviews and you never mention your past."
"Let me ask you, Rinnn..." the growl that accompanied her name served as a warning that she was treading on thin ice, "why are you a teacher?"
"I have a theory," for once she was the one to avoid his question, "want to hear it?"
Sesshomaru didn't respond, so she went ahead, "I think that you avoid and deny your emotions, and a person can't live like that without having a meltdown or, I don't know, spontaneously combusting or something.
So, you bottle it up and only release it when it's just you and your canvas. That way no one will believe you're weak." She looked up at his face, trying to tell if her guess was right, "Emotions aren't a weakness though." She added in a soft voice.
"Hn. And you, Rin. The bubbly, young school teacher who was likely abandoned or orphaned at a young age. You then grew up alone, believing that you would never have a family of your own and so you fill the void in your heart with your students. Am I correct?" Amber eyes locked on Rin's face as he waited for a response.
Rin's breath hitched and she quickly averted her gaze. Part of her was simply stunned that Sesshomaru had spoken for that long, while another part was ashamed at his accuracy.
"Jerk," She muttered childishly. She turned away suddenly but Sesshomaru was quicker.
He blocked her path and caused Rin to walk straight into his chest. She didn't bother moving, it would only make her tears more obvious and besides, she was beginning to enjoy being so close to him. His shirt was soft and smelled amazing as she unconsciously leaned her head into it.
His hands carefully rested on her shoulders, keeping her in place. He felt very stiff, but Rin was well aware of the fact that he could have pushed her away by now. This was progress, right? Here he was making an effort and she couldn't even accept the blunt truth of his words.
"I guess I overreacted," she mumbled into his chest.
"I was not exactly... tactful." Sesshomaru's head bent forward, enveloping Rin in a curtain of silver hair. "I expect it would be difficult for a young girl to go through life without a mother and father."
"Thanks," she said softly, assuming that was his way of apologizing. When she was sure that her eyes had lost their puffiness, Rin reluctantly stepped back.
"I got coffee on your shirt," She said, regretfully fingering a light brown stain on his otherwise spotless sweater.
"I'll send you the bill," he replied as monotone as ever.
"Was that another joke?" Rin smiled weakly as her usual cheerful attitude was beginning to return.
"Check your mail next week. Until then, you will just have to guess."
A happy little laugh escaped Rin's lips, "Look at you, teasing me. So how does it feel to actually relax and enjoy yourself?"
Sesshomaru grunted in response, but Rin was slowly learning to read the subtle signs of his face. Currently, his lips were not set in their usual thin line and his eyes looked calm so she took that to be a good sign.
"Do you have plans tomorrow?" Rin found herself asking without having really planned the question.
"I have business to attend to." He replied stoically.
Rin made a face of disgust, "Business on a Sunday? 'Cause I was thinking we could go out for brunch. Do you like crepes? I loooove crepes, and there's this nice little place-"
"Did you not hear me?" She was cut off by his harsh response.
A bit bewildered at his sudden change in attitude, Rin stuttered out, "Y-yes, I just thought..." she trailed off helplessly.
"You thought wrong." He was quick to growl.
They had arrived at the exit gates by this time, about to go their separate ways. Rin scrambled for something to say that would keep Sesshomaru from walking away and never coming back. She was just trying to hold up her end of the deal, after all.
"I hope you realize we're not done yet," she warned him, "I'm going to make you crack, Sesshomaru." She took great pleasure in seeing his jaw tick when she spoke his name, "I'll be in touch."
Rin gave a cute little wave and walked off with a light bounce in her step. She was determined to break through that icy exterior, no matter what. She definitely had experience when it came to stubborn children, and really, grown men weren't all that different.
Then and there, Rin decided to put her teacher skills to good use on a certain moody artist.