Melting into the hot water was always Kagome's favorite part of taking a bath. She usually showered, which took less time and soap than the arduous process of bathing in still water. In winter, it was a special treat, because the hot water seemed to run out faster and she seemed to stay submerged longer. Being late January, it was exceptionally cold outside, perfect weather for a hot bath inside.
Tonight was a special night. Not for any particular reason, she just wanted to take a bath. She went through all the necessary preparations in the bathroom. She had gotten bath salts, soaps, and lotions all in her favorite scent: warm, vanilla sugar.
She had even gotten bubble bath, though the bubbles would always disappate half-way through her leisurely soak. That was the only downside, which she chose to ignore. She turned on the tv in her living room just for some outside noise to hear. It also made her apartment feel very lived-in.
And her routine would always end the same way. She would take off her clothes and glance at herself in the mirror, the way every girl does. She'd then kneel beside the bathtub and turn on the hot water, swirling in some bath salts as the water ran. It was usually about this time that she realized she had left some of the soaps she needed by the kitchen sink, and would wrap herself in a towel to go and retrieve them.
As she padded through the living room, she would always fantasize about a handsome man who would see her towelled figure in the window and instantly fall in love. It was a daydream that fizzled out very quickly and was often over before she even returned to the bathtub. Though, instead of a faceless man, today's daydream starred Sesshoumaru, standing outside in his business suit and looking up at her window.
She was a daydreamer at heart, so there was no helping it.
Another strange habit of hers was that she always left the bathroom door open when she took a bath like this. She liked to know what was going on in her apartment, and the various noises were comforting to her. It made her home feel alive, making her forget she was the only one in it.
As she sank into her personal hot spring, she sighed happily. The mountains of bubbles around her were like a toy as she took some in both hands and blew them out into the air. The bathroom smelled wonderful thanks to all of her bathing implements. The scent of warm vanilla sugar steamed upwards and soaked her skin, making her smell just as good as the surrounding air.
She dipped her head back into the water until it covered her ears. Her hands massaged her scalp and thoroughly soaked her hair. While underwater, all of the sounds of the apartment were muffled. So she felt the sounds, more than she heard them. She could feel the vibrations of the television, the zoom as the cars went by outside. She could also feel a low him, and she didn't know what it was.
Bringing her head up, she slicked her hair back and listened. It didn't take long for her to hear it again, as the phone rang again, a little more loudly this time.
Drooping her shoulders in a sigh, she pondered for a moment on getting out of the tub to answer it. It was a short battle that ended in her staying exactly where she was.
Sitting there soaking, she listened to her answering machine pick up the beep and play her recording.
"Hi, this is Kagome. I can't come to the phone right now, so please leave a message! I'll talk to you later, bye!" she always hated hearing recordings of her voice. They always sounded way too high-pitched for her tastes. Another beep sounded before a message started to play.
"Hey Kagome, it's Sango." the machine recorded it as she spoke, "Listen, I was wondering if you would be willing to babysit tomorrow night. You and Ranmaru can just hang out by the bar like last time. Call me back. Bye." then another beep signaled the end of the message before it shut off and was silent again.
Kagome sank back into the steamy depths. Call her selfish, but she really didn't want to babysit again. She had to admit though, little Ranmaru was a great conversation starter when it came to impromptu meetings with businessmen. The subject had really gotten her and Sesshoumaru talking that day a few weeks ago. Would she have such great luck again?
She grabbed a sponge and began to scrub vigorously.
One could only hope, she thought.
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Clawed fingers silently turned the knob that would cease the flow of hot water. The same hands reached over the glass door to grab an awaiting towel and wrap it around the connected torso.
A glass shower door opened and a masculine figure walked to the mirror to wipe off the steam and lean against the counter.
Sesshoumaru regarded himself momentarily in the reflecting glass before grabbing his hair and wringing it out. Drying his long tresses was such a long and arduous process, he mostly let it dry naturally while he went about his normal routines. Hair dryers were out of the question because of his demonic ears. Excellent hearing was simultaneously a blessing and a curse. Therefore, he would let it drip-dry, which would normally result in half of his apartment slightly damp.
It was a Friday night in the Taisho apartment, a night where he would normally be enjoying a glass of Bourbon under warm lights elsewhere. Tonight, however, he had begun to see just how much he was favoring this particular haunt.
He needed to cut back on his visits to the bar if he wanted it to remain undiscovered. He quite enjoyed the warm, rustic mood it had along with the warm, unassuming people there. That was another of his problems. Along with spending too much time in one place, he was also beginning to see the danger of paying Kagome Higurashi too much attention.
But of course, those weren't the only reasons he wasn't going on this night. He looked at the small table beside his chair where a pair of broken plastic earrings rested on the glass top. They must have broken at some point during the remainder of her evening at the bar, when she probably deposited them in the pocket of his jacket for safe-keeping. She must have forgotten about them.
He really wished she would take better care of herself and her things. She was going to waste away with the amount of care she took of her own body and belongings. He would have to instill in her mind a sense of pride in general appearance. Yes, he felt she would benefit greatly from it.
Sitting in his chair with leftover paperwork was how he spent most nights. Then, he discovered the bar and went out more often. If anything, he sometimes went out for the sheer sake of going.
And he didn't have to go out tonight, especially if his only excuse for seeing her was that he should be out of the house. He was Sesshoumaru, he didn't need excuses to see a friend. Although, there was a certain feeling of power that came with having a reason to see her whenever he chose.
That being said, the power of having her earrings to return would be short-lived, as he would return them promptly the next morning. It would be a Saturday morning and from what he had gathered from their conversations, she very much enjoyed sleeping in.
Sudden thoughts of knocking on her door filled his mind and he chuckled at the way he would probably find her: completely dissheveled and in her night clothes. He wondered what kind of face she would make when her sleepy mind suddenly woke up and registered that he was there.
He couldn't help himself from picturing her the way he first saw her. Her hair would be a mess, her baggy clothes would be pulled this way and that from sleep, and her glasses would be continuously falling off of her nose.
She would adjust them with a finger poking out from the sleeve of her sweater. Then she would smile, and the whole room would brighten from it.
You see, Sesshoumaru was a daydreamer too.
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Saturday morning was bright and sunny, the perfect beginning to such a promising day. Sesshoumaru had woken with the sun, as always, and quickly got dressed. His recliner had been a place where he was prone to figdeting, constantly glancing at the earrings on the coffee table. He wasn't nervous or anything, waking up early was just how he was. It was what he did.
And now the damaged jewelry was burning a hole in the pocket of his ovrecoat as he walked briskly down the street. Eventually, he came to the apartment. He looked at his watch and found that it was 8:30 am. A reasonable time to wake up, right? He had given her sufficient time to 'sleep late' as she liked to do.
In fact, she was probably up and drinking coffee over the morning paper as he stood there, staring up at the building. With that thought, he opened the door and strode up the stairs with purpose. Her room was relatively easy to find judging by the positioning of her window and the floor she was on. There was a small, cheerful doormat in front of her door that said welcome.
He listened for a moment, but heard no sounds of movement from inside. No newspaper turning and no coffee-maker boiling made it past the door to his ears.
Could she possibly be still asleep? The appalling thought came without warning and he quickly shook it off. Raising a clawed finger to the doorbell, he heard it resound on the other side of the door. He frowned when the door did not open.
He rang the doorbell again, twice this time, and waited. When no one answered, he knocked on the door itself rather loudly. Surely that would wake anyone up who was still asleep. His frown deepened as he heard nothing.
The blank face of the door seemed to be mocking him. Every minute, he expected it to open and reveal her bright, rested face. And she would be happy to see him, too.
But no. The door only stared back at him, silently taunting him as he stood in the hallway on a mat that said 'welcome'. He glared at it. It was a few more seconds before the thought occured to him that Kagome might not be home at all.
Turning on his heel, he began to walk away, slowly coming to the stairs. He turned around and looked at her door, giving it one more chance to open and reveal its occupant. When it made no such move, he promptly continued his return trek down the stairs.
The next stop, of course, was the office and he wasted no time in getting there. He did hesitate, however, in front of a trash receptical about a block from his office building. He reached into the pocket of his overcoat and brought up the small, plastic earrings that had begun this day's mission in the first place. Turning them over gently in his palm, he looked at them for a few moments.
Then without another thought, he held his hand over the trashbin and turned it over, letting the jewelery fall into the receptical. He pushed his hands back into his pockets as he walked the last remaining block to work and watched his breath fan out in huffs.
He didn't cast a single glance back as he walked. After all, even if he had returned them to her, what use could she have for jewelery that was broken?
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I'm all better! Still hacking my brains out, but much better!
Thank you so much to all those who wished me well, it worked!
(The doctor actually had me on steriods, which will explain the chapters im cranking out at blinding speed)
I don't know about you guys, but I sleep waaaaay past 8:30 on Saturdays.. Sesshy's clueless. And oh, he threw away the earrings.
Thanks for reading, and tell me what you think!
