More Than Neighborly Affection
Disclaimer: I do not own any rights pertaining to InuYasha, it is a product of its respective artist/writer/company.
Summary:Kagome Higurashi has moved out of the city and into a small house on a small street, looking forward to a new life. Having just left her fiance in a sudden life-changing revelation, Kagome never expected to grow so close her new neighbor. Loads of fluff, it's basically a fluff-ball of a fic. Or it should be…
A/N: And she finally updates, ladies and gentlemen! Now for that date that is absolutely NOT going to lead anywhere because…well, Kagome's not in the market for guys. Yeahhhh…right…
:WARNING: Bits and pieces of shonen-ai (boy's love), but there's no make-out scenes or anything, just some mentioning of it.
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Kagome stood by the kitchen counter, nursing her glass of red wine as she watched Sesshomaru cook his vegetable stir-fry. The man was a vegetarian, who knew? But, really, it seemed quite understandable that a man who had such a compassion for animals -at least, enough to save their lives regularly at work- would feel uncomfortable eating them. An interesting fact that she tucked away for later encounters with the man. Not that she was thinking of cooking him dinner at a later date, because she was most certainly not looking for a boyfriend, and so she wouldn't want to impress her stunningly handsome new neighbor. No, she wasn't thinking anything like that at all.
"Looks like it is just about finished. Please, feel free to have a seat." He gestured toward the dining room table with his wooden spoon.
Kagome leaned in a little to inhale the enticing aroma of the meal. Her mouth began to water; this man was a divine cook.
"You'll have to forgive me if I don't have the appetite of a lady tonight, but this smells far too good for me to not eat more than is appropriate and then some." She said with a smile as she made her way over to the table, which InuYasha was currently laying under.
Sesshomaru gave a deep chuckle, and Kagome's smile widened. This was going pretty well, if this were a date –which it absolutely wasn't- they both would be making very good first impressions. This was just a friendly, neighborly dinner. A dinner that felt more and more like a date as time passed.
"Go ahead and laugh, but you won't be laughing later when you see me over here every night, expecting you to cook me something. I'm like a stray cat, you see." Kagome joked, laughing along with him.
"I don't think I'd mind having you over, you would definitely make better company than InuYasha does."
InuYasha gave a gruff snort and nipped at Sesshomaru's pant leg, to which Sesshomaru began repenting for his statement.
"You know I didn't mean it. Such an attitude."
Kagome giggled before digging into the stir-fry that was just too appetizing to have been cooked by a single man. She wouldn't have believed he made it if she hadn't watched him do it herself. Taking the first bite, she couldn't help but moan in pure delight. Sesshomaru stopped laughing.
He watched as she ate, though his eyes were slightly unfocused as he lost himself in thought. There was something about her, an attraction that he never felt before. Not even when he met his ex-wife for the first time. Of course, Kagome Higurashi, kindergarten teacher and lover of lilies, was nothing like Kagura, the self-centered bitch he'd met when he was young and stupid.
Even when he had realized the mistake he had made by marrying her, it had seemed too late to get rid of her. She was pregnant by then. But, as soon as she started to be less than motherly toward their daughter, Sesshomaru had filed for divorce and fought her for custody. Kagura had her every alternate weekend. After all, it wasn't as if she was abusive towards Rin, she just didn't care what the girl did.
Rin was just about two and a half when he and Kagura split up, and now she would be starting kindergarten. Which Kagome would be teaching. For some reason, Sesshomaru was nervous. Just because the woman was a teacher, didn't necessarily mean that she would be comfortable dating a man with a kid. Even more so, the father of a girl she would be seeing in the classroom every day. He hadn't known her long, but Sesshomaru knew that he wanted this to become more than just a neighborly fling. Of course, Kagome seemed to be fighting whatever it was that she was feeling towards him, so apparently she didn't want this to be anything at all.
But Sesshomaru was willing to do whatever it took to make her consider being more than just friends with him. That is, if she wasn't scared off completely by the fact that he had a daughter.
Kagome cleared her throat and blushed a little, "So…"
Sesshomaru gave his head a little shake, "Yeah. So…" He searched his brain for something conversational, "would it be too forward of me to ask about your family drama?"
He noticed her stiffen and cursed himself for not thinking of anything better to talk about. But he was curious. Kagome, on the other hand, was more caught off-guard than anything else. She couldn't really blame him for wanting to know, it was a given that it would have been brought up eventually. She just hadn't expected it so soon.
"Uhm…well, it's basically the fact that my family's old-fashioned. My family has run a shrine for several generations and my grandpa and mom are very much…strict in traditions." Kagome's blush deepened, "My relationship with a boy moved a little too fast for either of our family's likings and we were rushed into an engagement that I didn't really want."
Kagome took a deep breath, she felt as if her face was on fire, her blush spreading down to the tops of her breasts, "After a pregnancy scare, I realized that I just couldn't marry him to please my family. So we split up and I went back home, where I never heard the end of how I brought shame to the family and how Mom just couldn't believe that I left a doctor, of all people. So, that's the drama."
She averted her eyes down to her plate and began to push around a baby carrot, mentally scolding herself for spilling her guts to man that she didn't really know.
"At least you got out of the relationship before you were married. It's Hell to go through a divorce."
Kagome's eyes drifted up slowly, her mind not quite registering what he had just revealed to her. Was he saying…? No. It couldn't be. Who would leave this handsome, compassionate, culinary master? She gaped at him when she saw the blatant truth in his eyes.
"Who would be stupid enough to leave someone like you?" She blurted out, before slapping a hand over her mouth and turning into a cherry.
He gave a half-smile, "I was actually the one who asked for the divorce. She wasn't quite the woman that I had thought she was in the beginning."
"Oh, that's terrible! I'm so sorry to hear that." Kagome said. And Sesshomaru felt that she actually meant it.
There was an almost-awkward silence and then InuYasha gave a low whine.
Kagome smiled, albeit a little sadly, "InuYasha's right. We are depressing people."
Sesshomaru laughed quietly, and Kagome's demeanor brightened just that little bit more. She liked it when he laughed; it was a laugh that had to be infectious. At least, it was to her. So she laughed along with him. He was beautiful, but that increased ten-fold when he was genuinely smiling or laughing. It almost took her breath away.
Kagome took another sip of her wine. Unfortunately for her, she was a very light-weight drinker and finishing the whole glass would leave her with a bit of a buzz. Two glasses and, well, she was officially unable to function properly. And so, she was very…careful about how much she drank. Just looking at wine brought back memories of how she discovered just how much she could handle. Christmas was never the same after that.
Everything was quiet for a moment, save the sound of Sesshomaru clearing his throat and Kagome's fork meeting her plate as she ate. It really was an amazing meal. She could feel him watching her and it made her nervous. When she was nervous, she tended to ramble, instead she chose to keep her mouth busy with food. That was, until she ran out of food and had nothing else to do but talk.
"You're a vet." She said wit her chin resting in her hand, elbow propped up on the table, "Is that what you've always wanted to be?"
Sesshomaru swallowed his food and leaned back in his chair, a thoughtful look on his face, "Well, when I was younger I had always wanted to be just like my father, who was a great general, but I had quickly changed my mind the day my mother had gotten a letter delivered telling us that he had been killed in action." He frowned a little, "The look on my mother's face was devastating, and I knew that I could never do that, leave someone that way. So I found my way into the veterinary business by the way of my pet toad, Jaken, who I spent all my time with after my father died."
Kagome's eyes shined with tears. She knew what it was like to lose a father, that ache of loss that never quite goes away. He had been her best friend, not at all strict in the shrine traditions like her mother and grandpa. But, he had died in a car accident, just a few days before her 13th birthday. Her grandpa always told her that he had been punished by the Gods for not being like the rest of them. And she had believed that for years.
She wiped her eyes and then yawned. She felt as though she had really gotten to know Sesshomaru tonight, but now she was tired and really wanted to go to bed. Rising from her chair, she dropped her napkin onto the table and picked up her empty plate to put in the dishwasher.
"Thank you for a great night. I had a really good time. I'd love to stay longer, but I'm getting tired and I have to start working on my classroom early in the morning." She said, smiling brightly at him before standing on her tiptoes and placing a light kiss on his cheek.
"Goodnight, Sesshomaru." She was blushing a deep red as she rushed toward the door, only to find her wrist caught in his gentle grasp.
He leaned down to her and kissed her full on the lips, and she melted in his embrace. But, soon, the kiss ended. Far too soon for the both of them.
"Goodnight…Kagome." He said quietly, opening the door to let her out.
She all but ran out the door and down the stairs, unsure of just what Sesshomaru was making her feel.
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"Agh! Damn it!" Kagome cried, glaring at her alarm clock for the millionth time that night, unable to get any sleep.
Rolling onto her side, Kagome muttered, "Why'd he have to kiss me like that, huh?"
