Chapter 9
Curious
I'm curious to see just why she would be here, practically asking for a death sentence.
"Well not exactly a game. An… activity… maybe."
I had absolutely no clue to what she was rambling about, and why my work needed to be interrupted for it.
"What?"
"Let me explain. In school, when I was little, the teacher used to make us sit in a circle. She started a sentence, and then the first person had to finish the sentence with something about them. Then that person would start a sentence and the next person would finish, until it went all the way around the circle."
It was almost as if she was trying to tell a story from her past, but I think she senses I don't care one bit. Still, she foolishly continues anyway.
"Like if the teacher said 'I love to…' the kid would say 'read' or 'skateboard' or something. Then the kid would say something like 'and my favorite color is…' and in the end the teacher had written down the long sentence and she would put it on the wall and tell us that it was the classes' traits."
This is absolutely ridiculous. Does she actually think I would be interested? I think she's smart enough to expect me to say no.
Of course I must try to be a little polite at least. If she truly is insane I wouldn't want to hurt her feelings.
"I'm not interested in playing games Miss Higurashi."
Her persistence is a little bit admirable.
"Um ok. Can I just ask a few questions then?"
"Miss Higurashi, why are you here?"
"You mean here, as in your office, or working here?"
"My office."
"Um, I just thought you could um, use a break. Also I just wanted to know some things about you. Hehehe."
"And why is that?"
"Well I mean, you're my boss and you just hired me without knowing a single thing about me and I accepted with out knowing anything about you."
"I don't think I'm that curious about you."
"I just thought that there are some things I should know, and maybe some things you might be interested in. Like, um, do you want to know about Kikyo?"
"Not really, I just don't want her in my home."
"Uh ok, well I have no control over that."
"Are you finished then?"
"No, I still want to talk."
"Miss Higurashi…"
She actually cut me off.
"Please, I just want to have a conversation. We never talked before"
"We just did, now you may leave."
Of course, I must become rude at some point. My patience is a little thin today.
Still, she continues with her courageous persistence.
"Why do you do so much work?"
"Must we do this?"
"Why do you do so much work?"
She even became so brave as to repeat herself as if I hadn't said a word.
What choice do I have anymore? Simply throwing her out wouldn't work, she would just bother me for days.
I will have to play her 'game' if I want her to leave me alone. If I get it over with now it might be less painful later.
"It's only natural for me to work, I own a company."
"Yeah, but why so much work?"
I really don't want to do this.
"Jaken tells me what's on my agenda each day. He plans the agenda, with meeting and paper work. He always likes to be at least 3 days ahead of schedule, or we are behind."
Why am I doing this? There's no turning back since I already started, but I can try to get out of it.
"So you really don't have to do this much everyday, that sounds tiring, to do everything 3 days ahead."
"It is, a little. Are we done now?"
"Of course not, it's your turn. You get to ask a question for everyone you answer."
"I don't have a question."
I really have no interest in her personal life.
"Well come up with something, even if it's simple."
If I make it as simple as possible then maybe she will get discouraged, but I doubt it. It's worth trying.
"…What's your favorite color?"
"You seriously want to waste you first question on that?"
I nodded slightly.
"Seriously?"
She sounded a bit agitated so I re-phrased the question.
"Fine, what's your favorite color, and why?"
"Um, ok, I'm gonna have to say, green, because it remind me of nature."
That sounded like a complete lie but I don't care.
"Ok, is that it?"
I could only hope that she was satisfied.
"No, my turn again."
I almost want to give up fighting it.
"Ok next question."
She thought for a while. It was a hard decision for her.
Finally, when she thought of something she decided to yell.
"I'm freezing my ass off! Why is it so fricken cold in here?!"
Amazingly, something like that came out of her mouth.
It was kind of interesting how dumb she could be. I wasn't sure if that was her question or an impulse.
"Excuse me?"
"Sorry, but how cold do you keep this room, like -10 degrees?"
At first I was slightly shocked that she would say that but I couldn't contain my amusement.
I found it interesting to see her there, shivering, trying to keep warm like it was the middle of winter.
"You could leave if it's that cold."
"I don't care if I get frost bite, I'm not leaving until I get answers."
Her persistence was annoying now especially since I could clearly tell that she was suffering.
I could just ignore her and wait until she couldn't take it anymore. The thought did cross my mind, but for some reason I couldn't bare seeing her like that. It's not like I wanted her to be miserable, I just wanted her away from me while I worked.
It seemed after weighing the good and the bad, I really had no choice but to give in.
I stood and walked slowly towards the door.
"I'll go with you, let's go."
"Huh?"
"Downstairs. You obviously can't take a little air conditioning, so if you won't leave with out answers, I'll give them to you downstairs."
I could tell she as relieved.
"Wait!"
"What now?"
I impatiently leaned against the white wall behind me, facing the two huge windows on the other side of the room. I was a little bit annoyed since I'm leaving for her.
"You didn't even answer me."
"What?"
"Why is it so cold in here?"
"That was your question?"
"Yes, hurry, answer, before I freeze to death."
Why is she always exaggerating so much? I don't think it's that cold.
"I never really noticed how cold it is in here. I will have Jaken look into that."
"Ok… I supposed that answer will suffice. I'm ready to go now, meet you in the living room."
I watched her stand up from the black leather chair and bolt out the door before I could even move.
As I walked down the stairs I noticed her still trying to find warmth on the couch.
I figured getting her a blanket might help.
I went to the closet and pulled out a white one, but of course they are all white, everything in this room is.
I threw it to her as I walked to the chair. I thought I heard her say 'Thanks' as I passed by.
Suddenly she decided to speak up.
"It would be better for you to sit on the couch."
"Why is that?"
"Isn't it more polite to face a person and be closer to them when having a conversation, instead of all the way across this huge room?"
She was correct. The room is so big that there is a great distance from the couch to the chair.
I didn't argue, I just sat at the opposite end of the couch. Far enough away that I felt there would be no violation of either of our personal space.
She looked at me for a minute, then she spoke up again.
"It's your turn."
I thought for a minute, then I remembered what she said and sat facing her. I realized that there actually is something I am curious about.
"What happened this morning?"
"What do you mean?"
"I know I told everybody to go home, but I'm not sure what caused this incident today."
"Well it's a long story actually…"
She explained what happened when Ayame showed up and a lot of other nonsense that made me happy that they were gone.
"Oh, so that's what happened."
She nodded and then continued to ask her own question.
"Who is Inuyasha's mother?"
It was a bit odd that she changed the subject but I was a little relieved the topic wasn't on me.
I explained as much as I thought she might want to know.
"Her name is Izayoi. She is a human that our father married. She doesn't live around here, but she visits sometimes. Rin really likes her for some reason, so she usually stays there for days when she gets bored of waiting for me to finish working."
"Oh, she seems nice, to put up with Rin all the time."
"I guess she is, but I don't think she likes me very much."
She absolutely hates me for some reason.
"Well anyway, your turn."
I just decided to ask whatever I could from now on to get it over with.
"Hmm, why did you want a job this summer?"
"I didn't just want a job, I needed a job for survival. Sure I may over exaggerate at times, as you already know, but I really did need some money. My friend, Sango, well she's been here a few times but I don't know if you met her, she told me about this and that's how I ended up here."
She definitely, does over exaggerate.
"Ok."
So next she decides to start digging into my personal life.
"Why did you adopt Rin?"
She decided to start her expedition of my past with that.
Well I guess I don't mind if she knows.
"Rin was almost killed one day when she was living at the orphanage. I found her and took her to the hospital. She looked so happy even though she was hurt, I thought she was a really weird kid. I don't know what I was thinking, I just decided to adopt her."
I could tell she didn't expect me to be that kind of person.
Then the lock on the door clicked and we turned our heads slightly as the door opened. Kaede was home. She had groceries and she seemed a little surprised.
It was strange that she said nothing as she walked past us and just went into the kitchen without a sound.
"I should probably go help her with the groceries." She got up and went to the kitchen doorway.
I thought, 'Finally it's over' but I thought to soon.
"Don't think this is over though. I still have some questions to ask. Later, you're coming downstairs for dinner and we will continue. It's your turn so think of something good." She warned me and I decided to go continue my work until then.
I went upstairs but I could no longer concentrate.
I found myself unconsciously playing with my pen for twenty minutes thinking about… something. I'm not even sure what it was.
I heard a knock on the door.
In the end I got nothing accomplished. Jaken would be very unhappy with this level of procrastination.
I went to the door to answer it this time, instead of letting her just walk in here.
I saw her look up at me in fascination, almost trance-like fascination.
"Yes Miss Higurashi?"
She stopped staring so intensely
"Um you know what, I told you to call me Kagome a long time ago."
She suddenly recalled that from the first day I saw her. I did feel kind of bad that I kept forgetting. I will try to remember in the future.
"Okay… sorry. Is it really that important to you though?"
"Yes, yes it is. Of course it is."
"Fine, Kagome it is then. Is that all?"
Hoping she would just leave me alone.
She seemed to get distracted again though.
"N-no of course not, it's time for dinner."
I still tried to get out of it.
"Not hungry."
Her next action confirmed for me that she was at least partially insane.
She grabbed my wrist and began pulling me out of the office. The brown wooden door closing behind me.
I was shocked, confused, and surprised all at once.
She lectured me about dinner.
"You haven't eaten anything all day. Come on, we are going to have the nice dinner that just spent an hour cooking for you."
I forgot all about her pulling me until the stairs, then I walked myself, but realized halfway down that my wrist was still in her grasp.
I don't know why I pulled it back so aggressively though.
We walked to the dinning room.
The beige walls were full of paintings and many chandeliers hung from the ceiling in a row above the long table.
She made spaghetti.
I really didn't feel like eating, but I didn't want to be rude, so I starting eating anyway.
She took a seat across from me and ate too.
It was actually good food.
At least I don't think she will poison me if I eat with her in the future.
The first five minutes were extremely quiet though.
Quiet was better than playing that 'game' with her though.
"It's your turn remember."
I wish there was a way to escape.
"Well? Are you gonna ask or not?"
I thought about the question.
"Do you enjoy bothering me?"
"…Is that your question?"
"Yes, yes it is. Of course it is."
Hopefully this could become somewhat fun.
"Well you have the wrong idea. There is no way I'm trying to annoy you. I just want to talk to you and I can't if you're working because you never pay attention to anything when you're working and you are ALWAYS working."
I guess I understood, but why would she want to talk to me anyway?
The questions continued.
"Ok um so have you ever been married? Well wait are you married? Or maybe you have a girlfriend I don't know about? Wow I really don't know anything about your relationships."
It was strange for her to ask that, well maybe because I never really think about it myself.
"No, I have never been married and I don't have a girlfriend."
"So no relationships?"
"Not recently."
"Work is always first priority?"
I nodded and then our 'game' became more than questions, it was just a conversation.
I admit, she isn't the worse person to talk to.
I didn't even mind helping her clean up after dinner was over.
Even after that, I didn't mind going back to the living room with her.
We both sat on the couch again, but this time not that far apart.
I was even surprised at myself for talking to her for so long. It must have been many hours.
She mentioned the party that I was throwing (well Jaken was doing everything, but apparently I was throwing it.)
She said she saw Kaede with supplies for it.
I told her it wasn't really for business, there are going to be a lot of different people there.
It was strange for me to say what I thought of next but I wanted to ask her for some reason.
"Would you like to join us this Sunday?"
"What? Me?"
"Are you busy then."
"Um no of course not."
"Okay, then I will see you there."
I decided to actually go to bed since it was near midnight.
She stopped me again one more time.
"Um wait, I have no clue what to wear."
"Just ask Kaede later. She will pick something appropriate."
"Okay…"
I went up the stairs.
When I was about to enter my bedroom, I noticed that she was about to enter hers' too.
"Goodnight ."
"Goodnight Miss… sorry Kagome."
I went inside, then I mentally beat myself up for almost forgetting again.
I just decided to put it in the back of my mind and sleep.
I'm really curious as to why I'm so interested in her now.
Hikari: Okay that was the end to curious. Sesshomaru's version was a little smaller, and I mean a little. Please look forward to the next chapter. Back to Kagome's point of view again. Hope you liked this.
BaiBai!
