Love thy Neighbor
Noises at Night
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"No you don't understand Inuyasha, she was beautiful. More than just beautiful, she was like an angel sent from the high heavens above to grace me with her magnificent presence in-"
"-this hideous hole we call home? Quite fitting."
Miroku paid him no attention, "It's like it's meant to be, you know, like Romeo and Juliet and-"
Inuyasha closed his eyes and leaned against the mirrored walls of the elevator, "the way they died? Romantic."
"And the fiery passion in her eyes just screams for attention… my attention." He sighed dramatically.
"Attention Deficit Disorder. Sexy."
Miroku finally looked at him, a little frown on his face, "You just don't understand-"
"No I don't actually," He interrupted indifferently and still with his eyes closed, "I don't understand a few things really."
"Oh yeah, and what's that?"
"Well, for starters, I don't understand why you're wearing a polka dot tie."
"Professionalism." He countered smugly.
"Oh yeah? The boys back there thought you looked more like a crossbreed between a monkey and a Chihuahua with an umbrella rammed up your ass and cologne strong enough to wipe out an entire species and your face looked like a baboon's butt."
"They said that?"
"……………………………………………….yes."
Miroku gave him an unconvinced look as he justified himself, "Those men know nothing about true love and romance. They think watching two guys beat each other to an inch of their lives is true love."
Inuyasha smirked, "Fair enough."
There was a brief pause as the elevator reached level 6 and both men exited the lift. Inuyasha was the first to break the silence as they walked down the secluded hallway, "But what I really don't understand is-"
"-love at first sight? Undying love? My loyal devotion to women?" They now stood directly outside of Inuyasha's apartment.
"-why the hell you've followed me to my apartment?" he growled.
Miroku laughed good-naturedly and smacked his friend on the shoulder, "Oh come on Inuyasha, you just got paid for winning the fight, knowing you, you're probably dying to shout me dinner-"
"-no."
"-and so I'm here to tell you as your manager and apartment maintenance guy, that I generously accept your offer."
"Oh how very generous of you. Remind me to thank you for letting me pay for pizza."
"Pizza?! I thought we're gonna have lobs-"
"Shut up!" Inuyasha hissed, quickly turning around from his door before eyeing Kagome's door.
Miroku also looked towards the door curiously, if not slightly confused.
And then they heard it. A male's voice.
"Kagome, come on, just let me put it in will ya?" The voice sounded urgent, somewhat desperate too.
"No," she whined, "It's so unhygienic, I don't even know where it's been." A knowing smile grew on Miroku's face but Inuyasha's remained unreadable.
"Well then fine," The male sounded frustrated, "You put it in yourself then."
"NO!" Miroku barely managed to stifle his laughter, "I don't wanna touch it! It looks.. it looks slimy.."
"Come on, stop being a baby." The male voice spoke.
"I'm not being a baby! This is my first time; I know it'll be uncomfortable for me. All my friends have told me it kinda hurts at first."
"Yeah but the discomfort will go away, and after it's in, it's all smooth riding from then on."
Miroku quickly slapped a hand over his mouth "Holy shit!" He whispered.
"I don't know, maybe we'll do it another day." She offered. "I'm just not ready yet."
"Look, just touch it okay, and you'll see how soft it is. It won't hurt. It'll just be a bit uncomfortable at first."
She tried to argue, but he got in first, "How can something this small hurt you?"
Inuyasha smirked a little, but Miroku out right laughed before he or is unimpressed Hanyou friend could stop him.
They froze… And then quickly snapped around to charge into Inuyasha'a apartment. The silver haired Hanyou stumbled with his keys as Miroku stood closely next to him desperately urging him to open the door.
"What was that?" The male voice questioned.
"I dunno." Their voices were getting closer and still the right key was unfound.
"ComeonComone Inuyasha" Miroku frantically whispered.
"I'm fucking trying!" Inuyasha hissed back.
Too late.
"Um.. hi?" her gentle voice spoke.
They slowly turned around. There standing in the door way was Kagome sporting a curious expression and a taller man, looking suspiciously similar to Kagome, in a sleek black suit… and a contact lens on the tip of his index finger?
Before either any of the two eavesdropper had a chance to say anything, the man in the suit spoke up, "Look sis," he said as he grabbed for the contact lenses' container, "you're gonna have to big a big girl now," he said in a childish voice, "and put your own contact lenses in your own eyes," he put the lens back to its rightful place, "because we grown ups," he mocked, "need to go home and prepare for the board meeting we have bright and early in the morning!" He was too enthusiastic to be comforting.
Grabbing his suitcase off the couch and trying to ignore Kagome's deathly gaze, he said, "Call me when you have a real problem!" and stormed down the hallway.
Failing to acknowledge the bemused expression on the two men's face, she screamed, "You show some respect to your elders Souta Higurashi, or so help me God I will rip that Armani suit into threads and shove 'em down your throat!"
"I'd like to see you try sis!" She could no longer see him as he had already turned the corner, "And by the way, you need anger management!"
This time, her face had gone all red, "What makes you think I'm angry!!"
With that said, she stormed into her apartment and slammed the door so hard, Inuyasha was certain that the floor shook for a moment.
Miroku spoke up first, "That was…"
"..Hot." And Inuyasha smirked.
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It was well past midnight, although Kagome was unsure of the specific time. She gripped onto her blanket even tighter as she felt a trickle of cold sweat run down her temple. Her knuckles, due to her grip, had turned white and her nails dug painfully into her palm. She dared not move, for she believed that any movement could trigger some sort of an attack on her. Her breathing was shallow and her heart was beating painfully fast.
There it was again. That distinct scratching noise against the wall.
Kagome winced whilst trying to bite back a sob. She felt the edges of her eyes begin to water from the panic and tensed all over. It was at this point where she begged for any kind of noise from Inuyasha's apartment, but her silent pleas went by unheard. Shivers ran hastily up and down her spine and whilst her hands and feet felt numb, they also felt clammy from the sweat.
Now she started to regret watching all those horror movies when she was younger. She regretted begging her grandpa to tell her about the unsettling myths of the deaths of Mikos. But most of all, she regretted being coaxed into living on her own. This had to be illegal. Her basic human right was not just infringed, but trampled upon. Shame on all the Higurashis!
This time, the scratching noise was a little louder. She was so sure that if she strained her hearing a little more, she'd be able to pick up on a twisted voice breathing her name in a sadistic sing-song voice.
Shut up Kagome! Do you really want to pee your pants?
With all the courage her little body could muster, she steadily grabbed her blanket before abruptly jumping out of her bed and blindly ran out her bedroom and towards her door screaming, "I'm too young to die!"
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The intensity of the music and screaming pounded through the arena as random cheers were thrown out. The atmosphere was foggy from whatever the hell people were smoking, and suffocating from the mass of people. The place was in a frenzy as the two men fought desperately for victory.
The air was thick with the smell of booze, smokes, blood and even sex.
This was underground Tokyo in all its glory.
Far off in the stadium, up on the second level in a spectator's box, Inuyasha and Miroku studied the fighting style of the competing men.
"Amateurs." The word slipped out of Inuyasha's mouth unknowingly.
"You'll be fighting one of them." Miroku stated simply, but seriously.
They didn't talk for a while as they closely observed every movement the fighters made, hoping to memorize every flaw within their actions.
Miroku spoke, but barely looked at Inuyasha, "Takinji, 24 years-old, powerful in his attacks but slow to defend. His has an injury to his left ankle but his fists are what bring in the cash."
Inuyasha nodded to himself.
"Jiro, 19 years-old, although moderate in strength, his speed makes up for it. His kicks or punches probably won't do you serious harm, but his swiftness can leave you dead beat."
There was a momentary pause before Miroku spoke up again, "Jiro is probably the one we should worry about."
When he received no response from the Hanyou, he continued, "Whilst Takinji relies solely on his brute strength, Jiro is cunning in his tactics – watch how he's beginning to tire Takinji out."
"I've heard a lot about you, and you really do quite live up to your reputation, Miroku."
The sound of the familiar voice caused Miroku to turn around and stare in shock. Inuyasha also turned around to the voice and watched with amusement. "S-Sango?"
"In the flesh." She replied proudly. Her sleek black hair was pulled up into a high ponytail with a few strands falling against the side of her face, creating shadows that better defined her face structure. With very natural make up and casual clothing in a place like this certainly made Sango stand out amongst the layers of foundation, eye shadow, mascara and 'hardly-there' clothing plastered on a good majority of the female there hoping to catch the eye of certain fighters.
For a place like this, she looked too relaxed for Miroku's comfort.
"But.. I mean.. you.. What are you doing here?! This isn't a place for a lady like yourself!"
Inuyasha's interest only grew at the discovery of the woman's identity. So this was the new chick on the block Miroku was talking about.
Miroku approached her and grabbed her by the arm forcefully, "Get out of here! I'm serious, this isn't a place for you."
"And what's that suppose to mean?" She hissed back dangerously.
But Miroku was not fazed, in fact for a moment, Sango wondered if this was the same lecher she had encountered in her apartment not too long ago, "What I mean is that you should leave before I make you leave." His voice was low, even dangerous.
Her beautiful brown eyes glared back at the man as she was about to give him a piece of her mind, "I'll have you know, that my father use to f-"
"Inuyasha… it's been a while." A venomous voice interrupted.
His body tensed and anger surged through his veins before he bit back the rage and forcefully smirked, looking towards the man, "Naraku. It's good to see you too."
Inuyasha stuffed his hands into the pockets of his hoodie as he clenched so tightly that he was able to feel the coolness of his own blood tainting his skin.
The man laughed a cold laugh and looked at the girl and Miroku, "So how is my top fighter?"
Inuyasha was barely able to force a laugh, "What can I say, you trained me well." You fucking bastard.
"I knew you were gifted the moment I saw you." Naraku spoke simply, as he too, looked out through the clear glass at the two fighters. "I haven't been able to find anyone else able to meet the standards you have set." He turned away from the fight with bored eyes and walked towards Inuyasha and patted his shoulder, "You've made me proud Takahashi."
Inuyasha did not reply to that, but merely held his breath begging to whatever was listening for Naraku to leave before he lost control of himself.
"The big fight is exactly one month from today." He paused briefly before intently looking at the Hanyou, "Inuyasha, you better make sure you get to the championships, I have put a lot of-" he caught himself before he could finish, "Just make sure you get there." He countered coldly.
He turned to leave without a farewell, followed by his legions of bouncers, and Inuyasha was grateful for it. He didn't know how long he was able to contain himself. He was lucky this time – although his hands were really bloody by now.
"Inuyasha." Miroku simply said his name. Whether it was out of acknowledgment or a question of his sanity, he wasn't sure, but Inuyasha seemed to understand.
"I've seen enough for tonight." His voice was cold, even ruthless, "Let's go Miroku." Without even waiting to see whether he had followed, Inuyasha left.
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It was four in the morning which meant the sky was still pretty much pitch black when Inuyasha made it back to the building. He wasn't sure where exactly Miroku was, nor did he really care. He winced ever so lightly as he felt an oncoming headache.
Too many thoughts bombarded his senses as he frowned and slowly walked out of the elevator. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he begged for some sort of relief. He hated, despised, moments like these, moments where even he knew he was more vulnerable than usual. As he was approaching his apartment, he looked up and immediately his eyes widened a little in surprise.
Sitting outside and leaning on the frame of his door was none other than the raven-haired girl wrapped up in her smiley faced blanket. Her head was bent low as it leaned against his door.
As he bent down on both knees to her level, two loud cracking noises were heard, yet she still did not budge. He smiled a little at this and reached out his right hand to softly shake her. Again, much to his displeasure, he found himself thinking of how cute she looked right now. For a brief second, he felt something weird stir from within him but was unable to put a finger on it.
Had she waited for him? But why?
Instantly her body jerked and her eyes flew open in alarm. He nearly lost his balance at the sudden movement, but managed to keep his poise as if she had not scared him for a second.
She merely stared at him before her mind was able to register that her neighbor had returned. For some funny reason, relief washed through her as if a bucket of water had just been poured over her head.
He had never been as handsome as he was right then. He was finally back, which meant she was not alone again. And at the back of her mind, she knew she was safe.
"You're in my way wench."
And then again, he had a knack to destroy every perfect picture her mind painted.
"Oh." Was all that she could manage as she awkwardly picked herself up.
He too stood up and looked down on her, "Well?" he asked somewhat impatiently.
"Huh?"
"Do plan on going back into your apartment, or are you just gonna wait for me to go inside so that you can lean on my door again?"
"I uh-" she wasn't exactly sure of what she expected. It was just a spur of the moment thing that had ended up with her falling asleep in the hallway.
As her eyes traveled nervously everywhere but his face, she unfortunately managed to catch a glimpse of his blood covered hand.
Her face was quickly drained of any color and she felt the early stages of nausea begin to consume her.
"Y-your .. " she trembled as she started to point, "Your.. hands."
His eyes instantly darted to his injured palms before quickly hiding it behind his back. She seriously looked disturbed.
"W-what happened?" she breathed out, still staring at the same position his hands were before he tucked them behind himself.
"It's nothing." He replied gruffly although she didn't look fazed at all.
"Oh.. okay… you might wanna bandage it up.. or something..."
"Keh. It's just a scratch.. and plus, even if I wanted to, I don't have any bandages at home." He crossed his arms, unknowingly, and looked to his side.
With the bloody hands in her line of sight again, Kagome cringed, "I don't have bandages too.." she became thoughtful for a while.
"I didn't a-"
"But I have bandaids!!" she almost screamed as the realization hit her.
He could only stare in astonishment at the ever-changing personas this girl took on.
"You wait here. I'll go grab them for you." She ordered.
Before she reached the door, she halted in her step.
"Um, on second thoughts," she blushed when she peeked at him from under her bangs, "would you mind coming in with me?"
He raised a curious eyebrow at her.
If possible, she blushed even harder, "I-It's just that.. I uh.. heard noises.. I KNOW that sounds childish.. but I also..I also don't like the wind much, so I guess that what I'm..like, trying to say is uh-"
"You're scared." He finished for her, hiding the amusement in his voice.
"I-" she tried to deny it at first but simply nodded in the end.
For a split second, he felt something stir inside again, something dangerously close to his-
"Sorry, the bandaids! Right!" quickly she turned around and opened the door without unlocking it since she didn't lock it when she bolted out before.
He tiredly followed her and realized the moment he walked in that he was seriously sleep deprived when he closed the door.
"Just wait here." She called out, vaguely pointing to the couch.
She was calling out random things, but barely anything registered as he was slowly succumbing to his fatigue.
"Found them!" she raised the bandaids into the air like a trophy before sitting herself next to him and grabbed for one of his hands.
He looked up at her and momentarily forgot about his tiredness. It took everything in her to not pass out from the amount of blood.
Her face started to pale again, and this did not escape his observation, "You alright?"
"Huh?" she glanced at him, "Oh, yeah. I'm just.. not exactly the best person with blood – If it's a bit of blood, then I can just manage to stand it. But anything more than this," she gestured to his hand with her chin, "I'll pass out. I can't even watch it on TV. I suppose it's a phobia, or something along the lines of that."
He hesitated for a moment, "You really don't need to do this you know."
"I know."
A comfortable silence passed between the two before she signaled for the other hand. He complied without speaking and continued watching her face and realized that it took every ounce of her willpower for her to not faint.
A soft smile graced his face, but was quickly replaced with an indifferent expression when she looked up at him.
He closed his eyes for a while after she looked back down at his palm and simply concentrated on his own breathing.
It was the seventh bandaid the moment she felt a soft pressure applied to her left shoulder. Gently moving her head to glance at what it was, she realized that Inuyasha had fallen asleep, leaning almost all his weight on her with his cheek resting comfortably in the crook of her neck.
She thought about waking him, but decided against it as she, this time, grudgingly sighed and slowly as to not wake him, leaned back into the sofa. Well at least most of the blood had either been cleaned off by her or covered up by the bandaid.
His breathing was hypnotic as she found herself listening intently at each breath he took, and gradually she let the heaviness of her eyelids close shut.
The last thing she remembered doing was draping the smiley-faced blanket around them both before really falling asleep as she rested her cheek against the top of his head.
Little did she know what would be in store for her when morning came.
Had she known, she probably would've let him bleed to death.
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An: I apologize for this chapter but I just couldn't seem to change much of it. This is one of those 'boring-but there to move the story along' chapters. Really, it was the inevitable – I tried people, I tried!
…oh how I tried.
Disclaimer: Don't own nothing
Doll Secret
