A/N: Happy Thanksgiving everybody! I have the whole week off of school so as a special treat I'm going to try to post an extra chapter (or possibly two) this week! Hope you all have a happy holiday!
Chapter 8
Sakura's POV
Over the next two weeks while S recovered I fell into a pattern. After eating dinner at my house and doing most of my homework there so my parents wouldn't suspect anything, I would wait until Mom left for her night shift and Dad was completely absorbed in his studies. Once I put on my uniform (I didn't want to change at the clubhouse) and gathered the things I needed I would sneak out to the clubhouse and stay with S overnight. I would always have to bring more food with me because now he was always hungry at dinner time. He'd taken a special liking to spicy ramen for some reason so I made that for him a lot with the small pot and burner in the kitchen. He would eat quietly and never spoke to me very much. I would take the time to study for upcoming tests and take care of S and the dog as attention was needed. S still hadn't told Ayame or me what his name was and I wasn't sure how much longer Ayame could take it. She was dying to know what his name was and S wasn't talking. Ayame would be silently fuming and glaring at S who wouldn't even look at her as if she wasn't worth his time. I had to keep Ayame restrained a little whenever this happened and I was a nervous wreck every time Ayame would start trying to pry information out of him.
On the brighter side of things, Ayame and I had finally picked a name for the dog. After I told Ayame about the spider incident, Ayame had called him a 'little protector' and we decided that his name should have a meaning that reflected that. After scrolling through a never ending webpage on a library computer, we found the perfect name: Tamotsu. Ayame had fallen in love with the name instantly and it seemed like a great one to me and that settled the name debate. It was a small relief to me because now that Tamotsu had a name Ayame had begun to teach him tricks and simple commands. It distracted her from interrogating S all the time and helped me breathe a little easier. One day though Ayame asked me to come see something odd.
"What is it?" I asked.
"It's Tamotsu." She said. She was sitting on the front porch with Tamotsu and holding her dog training book. I looked at him.
"Nothing seems wrong with him." I replied.
"It's not that something's physically wrong with him." Ayame explained. "It's whenever I try to teach him this one command. Watch. Tamotsu, come here boy!" Ayame patted her legs and Tamotsu came running up to her. "Good dog! Ok now watch this." She turned back to the dog. "Sit boy!" As soon as she said it, Tamotsu did the weirdest thing. He flattened his ears, tucked his tail between his legs and layed down. He put his snout on the ground and spread his paws apart and he almost looked like a person who had fallen face first on the ground. He held the position for three seconds then got up as quickly as he had dropped and wagged his tail expecting a reward.
"What the heck was that?!" I laughed.
"I've been trying to figure it out myself." Ayame explained. "He doesn't do it for any other trick I try to teach him. It's only when I say sit-" She stopped talking and looked at Tamotsu in shock as he dropped down into the same position again and jumped back up three seconds later. I only laughed harder.
"Let me try!" I said with tears spilling out of my eyes from my laughing fit. "Tamotsu, sit boy!" Nothing happened. He just looked at me with his clear blue eyes as if to tell me that I had no power over him because I was not his master. "Awwww shoot." I moaned. "I thought he was going to do it..."
Ayame tried it again. "Sit boy." Tamotsu dropped down again and jumped back up.
"Huh?" I looked at her in confusion.
"I guess he'll only do it if I'm the one giving him the command." Ayame guessed and shrugged. "Everybody has their quirks I guess."
"Yeah, well that's certainly a weird one." I said. "Well anyways, we should probably be going home. We've got way too much math homework to do today."
"It should illegal to get five pages of math homework in one night." Ayame complained. We went in to get our bags and as we did, Ayame took the opportunity to scowl at S. "You ready to tell me what your name is?" She hissed. I felt a large drop of sweat fall down my forehead. She's not going to be nice to him until she knows his name, will she?
S turned his head away from her and said "I have no obligation to tell you that." Ayame growled in frustration and I could almost see the steam coming out of her ears.
"Why not?" she huffed. "We let you stay here while you recover from who knows what gave you those injuries, you were too stubborn to eat at first and now you're eating Sakura out of her allowance, and you won't even tell us your name?" She her voice was on the edge of silent, dripping sarcasm and a scream of rage. I stood there in petrified silence afraid of saying anything that could send Ayame totally off the edge. S was still kept his calm demeanor and though his face showed no signs of it I could see the stubbornness in his eyes.
"Ayame, we should be going now." I suggested. "If we don't get home soon then we'll never be able to finish our homework in time to see the next episode of Vampire Knight tonight." Ayame looked at me and sighed. Vampire Knight was her favorite show and I knew there was nothing that would stop her from watching it. I didn't care for the show very much, but I watched it for Ayame's sake. She groaned slightly in frustration and gave S one last evil glare before storming out. I sighed in relief. That was too close. I muttered to myself. I hate being in the middle of those tense situations. I smiled at S and waved good-bye and without a word I walked out the door. As I closed the door behind me I turned around and saw Ayame rubbing Tamotsu's ears and him giving her wet dog kisses.
"I know boy, I don't want to leave you either!" She was saying. "I'll come and see you tomorrow ok?" Such a drastic change in personality. I thought. It's almost scary how quickly her mood can change. Ayame patted his head one last time, waved good-bye to me, and we went our separate ways.
…
The next day as I met up with Ayame at the clubhouse I could tell that she was still upset about Vampire Knight just being another rerun.
"That's the third time in a row!" She shouted. "How long do they expect me to wait for a new episode?!" She kicked a rock and I watched it sail into the trees. If it wasn't for Ichiro bossing everyone around the soccer team would be begging for Ayame to join them. Ayame sighed and smiled at me. "Oh well. Come on I want to see S before we head off to school." She said. I jumped when she said that.
"W-what?!" I stammered. I felt panic rising up in my throat, but Ayame was already through the door before I could stop her. S was sitting up on the sofa with a bored look on his face as usual. Ayame marched in and grinned cockily at S.
"I know why you're not telling us you're real name!" She declared. S looked at her with mild interest and she yelled in an accusing tone. "YOU'RE A SECERET AGENT FOR THE GOVERNMENT AREN'T YOU?!" An awkward silence settled for a few seconds with Ayame pointing her finger in accusation at S. S turned his head away again and closed his eyes.
"No." was all he said.
"Huh?" Ayame looked confused. "WELL THEN THERE'S NO REASON WHY YOU SHOULDN'T TELL US YOUR NAME YOU SELFISH, UNGRATEFUL-"
"Sesshomaru." He mumbled.
"What?" Ayame was surprised by the sudden interruption of her rant.
"My name is Sesshomaru." He repeated. "There, happy? Now will you please stop bothering me with such foolish questions?" Ayame stared at him for a while in shock then walked out slowly. I had been watching from a distance and hadn't been noticed at all so I just followed Ayame.
"A secret agent for the government?" I said at last. "What were you thinking Ayame?" She shrugged.
"It was my best guess." She replied. "Sesshomaru…" She let the name sink in. "Kind of an odd name don't you think?"
"I guess." I lied. I think it's a pretty cool name actually. It suites him, but I don't know why. "So are you done interrogating him?" I asked hopefully.
"Are you kidding?" she said. "I want to know everything before I can let him off the hook. Where is he from? Why is he here? What attacked him and gave him those wounds? Why was he so secretive about his name? Why does he dress the way he does? And most importantly: What on earth is that fluffy thing he wears?"
I sighed. The next few days are going to be very long.
