Hey, folks! I'm back!
Nothing new to tell you guys. Just happy to be here with a new chapter for you guys.
I think you'll like this one, but I don't know. Let's see ;-D
Thank you for all your comments, guys! We passed the 100 reviews mark! That's brilliant! Thank you so much for your kind comments!
Much love,
Nat'
g0ld3n: Hey there, sweetie. Don't worry, we still have a few chapters together. Thanks again for such kind owrds, though. And don't say "Adeus"! It means something like "good bye forever", and it's definetly not the case. Say "Tchau", haha. I appreciate the effort though. Tell me what you think of this next one. Um beijo!
So good: I'm so glad you are able to picture it. Because I hate when I'm reading something that is so complicated or poorly written that I can't see it in my head. Thanks, dear, for commenting again! XOX!
Nat: Here's the next! Hope you like it!
Ai2000: Hey there! I loved your review! I love how you got so into the story and described your experience to me. I feel kind of bad for making you cry, though. I like smiles xD I promise all your questions will be answered. Maybe not all at the same time, or maybe I will dump all the answer on top of you in one paragraph. Let's see ;-D Thanks for the review, love! XOX!
Anon: Thank you so much for reviewing! Glad you liked it! Let me know what you think of this one! And I hope I don't make you cry this time! ;-)
BrunoMarsismine: Hey there! I'm so glad you like it, really! Every time you tell me you liked it, the biggest smile spreads on my face. I hope you like this one too. XOX!
I took a deep breath.
The smell that invaded me was wonderful.
Everything is wonderful there. Opening my eyes, I see one of the most beautiful cities in the world sparkle at me, like it's smiling.
Paris is magnificent.
"Bon soir, madame."
"Bon soir, Albert. Merci."
I got into the box of the most beautiful theater I've ever seen.
It was fantastic to live with all that pampering, with everybody doing everything for you, for a change.
That proposal turned out to be way better than I thought it would be.
Well, let me explain.
Remember when that french man approach me back at the Miu Miu party? He was actually a TV producer, who was famous for a reality show that has been on air since 2006 in France, something a la Project Runway. It was currently on it's eight's season, and he invited me to be a judge on the three final episodes of the ninth's, which they were shooting. It was loads of fun. All the contestants knew who I were, and they told me they love my designs.
Bam. Check me out, huh?
It has been almost ten months, and I had time to prepare. I watched the show on TiVo and catching up with the season they were shooting, learned everybody's name and worked on my French. It was rusty, but once I started practicing again, it came easier. Sango, Miroku and Jakotsu came with me to the airport to say goodbye. Also my brother. Rin couldn't make it, she had a business meeting with Emma Watson (she was going to design the actress' dress for the premiere of her new movie). Kouga was actually in Boston, working. We all laughed and talked, Sota hugged me extra long, and when I reminded him that I wasn't moving to Paris, he relaxed and they wished me good luck and off I went.
I was only going to be in three episodes, but I was scheduled to be in Paris for one month.
I thought I had died and gone to heaven when they explained the contract to me at our lunch meeting on a Central Park restaurant.
I have been to Paris, of course. But it was usually for Fashion Week or another work related issue. This time, I literally only worked for a few hours and then I had a month to enjoy the city, and getting paid for it.
So here I am, for almost three weeks now, enjoying the luxury life of Paris.
Alone.
It really is not that bad, considering I didn't have time to think about loneliness.
It's only by night, when it's cold and I have to stack up a bunch of pillows around myself that I get a little sad. But then I taste some french cuisine food and the sadness goes away.
Even if sleeping holding on to a pillow is not the best when you're in love and have slept – with and by – the Dream Man and knows that he's able to keep you warm only by holding you.
But whatever!
So, there I was, ready to watch a production of The Swan Lake, in a box all to myself, with champagne and snacks, and nobody to share them, but hell if I'm gonna be sad about it. I'm gonna enjoy it.
Because I'm a huge fan of ballet. And the whole show doesn't fail to give me goosebumps and bring a few tears to my eyes, for all the right reasons.
It is, truly beautiful.
But I suppose everything is beautiful when you have six plus glasses of the finest champagne money can buy.
And well, by the end of the show I was a little tipsy.
I know, I've been tipsy a lot since you and I met, but it's only because the best parts of the narration happen to be when I have booze in me.
Relax.
And don't drink too much.
Anyway, so I was tipsy. And I knew that because, on the car back to the hotel (Le Bristol and you know it), I started to see a few stars dancing around my head, and they told me "Mademoiselle, you are tipsy!"
And you know what? It's good being tipsy in Paris.
After I took a few photos with the dancers and got them to sign my playbill, the driver took me back to my hotel.
Walking in, I was focusing on putting one foot in front of the other and not fall from my pumps. It was a hard task, with all the little French stars dancing around my head.
I got into the elevator and pressed the button for it to take me to my floor, when I heard some French guy screaming for the bellboy to please, hold the elevator.
Gosh. I hate sharing elevators.
And it's not because I'm suddenly a diva or anything, I just never know how to act around people on the confined space. It's worse when I'm trying to pretend to the world I'm not dizzy.
And, maybe a little bit, because I'm becoming a stuck up bitch. But only a little.
So I was ready to ignore the French guy when he walked into the elevator and started babling.
"Je suis desolé, le déteste pour attendre- Kagome?!"
I swear. He said my name. I raised my head to him and had to control myself so I wouldn't choke on my own saliva. 'Cause that would be horrible and embarrassing.
The stars started dancing harder, saying "Oh, la la, you are really tipsy!"
"Inuyasha?"
I'm sure I was looking at him like he was Voldemort or something.
Stop smiling, you! It's not funny!
"Kagome! What are you doing here?" I was abut to answer, but he cut me off. "Wha- Oh, the TV show, right? Congratulations, I heard!"
"Um, uh... Thank you, but... I'm sorry, what are you- Are you..." I was a bit lost, I'm sure you can tell. I stopped talking, and he looked at me, smiling. Then I regained my power of speech.
"Are are you doing here?"
He still looked at me for like three seconds and then shook his head.
"Oh, uh... I'm vacationing, actually. It's been a while since I've last been here."
I looked at him, still trying to decide if he was real or my stars were playing a prank on me.
"You look great! Where are you coming from?"
"The, uuh... The ballet."
He smiled again, and I was so confused.
"That's very you."
For some reason, I found that comment funny.
"Do you, uh... Do you want to have a drink or something?" He asked.
It's been ten months. Ten months since that last time I saw him, that last time he was such a jackass and kissed me against my will. Ten months of missing him everyday, and trying not to think about his eyes, his hair, his voice, that smirk.
Ten months of no wedding.
"Oh. I would, really. But I just had one too many glasses of champagne, so I think I'll take a shower and go to bed."
Oh. Wrong words. I said "bed" and he was standing there, and my brain started to create images, aaah!
He sighed in a suspicious way and bore those golden eyes of his into mine in a way that made me think I was naked.
"Are you staying here?" I asked.
"No, no, I'm in my parent's house. I'm just here retrieving a legal document, as a favor to my dad. This prosecutor has some files that we need to a case and... Well, that's boring."
"Your parents live here?"
"No, no, they have a townhouse for vacationing."
Huh. Townhouse in Paris.
I'm guessing their credit cards have a "Loaded" tag on them.
The elevator dinged to let me know it had arrived to my floor.
"That's, uh... That's me. It was nice to see you, Inuyasha."
"Yeah, it was."
I got out and the door started closing again, and I saw his eyes begging mine.
So I suddenly held the door, just before it closed all the way.
"You know, I have some wine bottles, that will never make through customs, and I'll never be able to drink them alone, so would you like to maybe have a glass-"
"Yes." He jumped out of the elevator. "I'd love to."
I smiled, all polite, and guided him to my suite.
"Nice place you got here." He commented.
"Isn't it? I'm already dreading leaving it. The only thing I can't get used to is the tub. Too big."
"They usually are."
"Sit, I'll get the wine."
I walked to the small kitchen and got the bottle I was saving. I'd drink it while watching "One Fine Day", with George Clooney and Michelle Pfifer. It would be on TV tomorrow night, I was planing on watching it while drinking some wine and munching on popcorn.
Coming back, I found him sitting on the couch.
"How much longer are you staying?" He asked.
"I go back to New York in a week." I answered, trying to open the bottle.
He got up, took the bottle from me and started working on it himself.
"Thanks."
"My pleasure."
"How long are you staying?"
"I actually go back tomorrow. I just came here to get these documents and then I'd go back and finish packing."
"When did you get here?"
"Five days ago. Paris by myself is not really my thing."
By himself? Hmm. Interesting.
"Speaking of which, I should get those papers. Do you mind if I run and get them real quick?"
"Oh, no, sure, go ahead."
"Ok. I'll be right back, ok? Don't go anywhere."
I shrugged. It's my room, man. Where would I go?
"Right." He said, like he knew what I was thinking. "It'll be two minutes. I'll be right back."
And then he rushed out the door.
It took me five seconds to run to my purse, get my phone and weigh my options.
Sango? No, she'll be worried.
Rin? She doesn't even know about me and him.
Jakotsu.
"Oh my god inuyasha is here what do I do I'm freaking out we're about to have wine help me"
No commas, no punctuation, no nothing. It was desperate texting, you see.
"WHAT?"
"What do I do?"
"BANG HIM!"
Jesus.
"Oh god. I'm gonna die."
"No you're not. You're gonna be fabulous. Where is he now?"
"Getting some documents from someone that's staying in the hotel."
"Here's what you do. You fix your make up, you push up your boobs. You see what happens."
That was actually great advice.
"Ok. Oh my God."
"Go. Text me in the morning, or when he leaves. Lov u. Bye."
"Thanks. Love u too."
I put my phone down andwasabout to walk towards the closet, where all my make up was, when I heard a knock on the door. He was back.
Wow. Fast.
When I opened it, he was panting slightly.
"That was like... Really fast."
"I took the stairs. And left the guy talking to himself. I was afraid you would be... I don't know. Not here anymore."
His smile made me smile too.
He came back into the room and sat on the couch and in under two minutes, we were already talking like it hasn't been six months since we last spoke and saw each other.
And, in less than a second, it seemed, two bottles of wine were already empty, the third on it's way down.
Soon we were both, quite drunk, sitting on the floor before my bed (on the floor. I was wearing Balenciaga. Unforgivable), doing shots. With wine.
I must have been out of my mind.
"Ok, ok. A time when you... Got so mad you actually thought about murdering someone?" I asked, after answering him that the lowest act I've ever done was broadcasting the (barely) sex tape my high school nemesis had made with her sister's boyfriend. I wasn't proud of that, but that night it was really funny.
"Three yeas ago, when this guy walked into my office asking me to defend him because he had raped a girl, but only because she had 'asked for it'. Sesshoumaru had to hold me back."
"Fair. Now do your part."
He did the shot of wine. That was the game: Every time one found the others motives for doing something fair, the one who answered would do a shot.
"Ok, let's see... What was your biggest 'This is torture' moment?"
That's when things started to get a little... Unsafe.
"Ha. Easy. When Kikyou asked me to help her become more attractive to you." I was already lifting my glass to my mouth, waiting for him to tell me it was fair. When he didn't, I looked up at him. He was Smirking® at me.
"That was so good I'm taking a double." He poured himself a double shot and chugged it.
I did the same.
"My turn. One time you felt like committing a crime in public, in front of whoever was looking."
"Too easy. It was actually twice. One time was when that British douche kissed you in that fucking bistro. The other one was when you were dancing with that motherfucker of an Agent in Miroku's party. I was about to go and sink his nose in when he left."
I was my turn to not be able to stop smiling.
He looked at me again, deep in my eyes.
"Fair?"
I took a breath.
"Uh, yeah. Fair." I said, still smiling.
"It were two, so it's another double."
We took our shots.
"Oh, I got a good one!" He said, while filling my glass. He was suddenly looking at me all wicked."One time you wanted to have sex in a public place."
"What?!" I almost screamed, and some wine ended up on the floor. "You can't ask me that!"
"Yes I can, you said anything was fair game." He took a sip straight from the bottle. "Answer the question."
"How the hell am I supposed to know that?"
"You know, you just don't want to tell me."
"That's not it. I really don't know."
I totally did.
He glared at me, all dangerous.
"I'll pretend to believe you. And I'll go ahead and answer the question. And if you find it fair, it's a triple one."
"Ok." I was nervous, biting my lip and everything.
He took my hand, the one that was holding the glass, lifted it, started to fill it again and said, without looking at me:
"When I left you at your place after that first show of yours I watched. When we said goodbye."
And then he looked at me.
My mouth was slightly open in surprise, because that was exactly the same answer I had.
"Fair?"
"Fair."
Triple shot, down it went.
"It's your turn."
I had to think a little. By now, the stars had hooked up with a few comets and were dancing can-can. Skirts and shoes and all.
And then I blurted out, without even thinking.
"One time you got so horny you forgot your own name?"
He laughed, so evilly I got goosebumps.
"Again, twice. When we danced that goddamned tango and when the lights went out at Miroku's birthday. Because it was freaking cold outside, but it was burning hot in my bedroom."
And then he looked at me like I was sitting there naked.
I didn't find it awkward, I didn't find it weird. I found it fair.
We did the shots.
"The happiest moment of the year for you."
"When you kissed me for the first time."
Just like that, without even stopping to think.
I saw his jaw bones setting and then he turned the bottle to pour us more wine. Only a few drops fell.
"We're out of wine. I'll go get more."
He got up and went to get another bottle.
Let me pause just to tell you how gorgeous he looked. He was wearing a black shirt with long sleeves that he had rolled up to his elbows, with black jeans. He was barefoot, his shoes resting on somewhere with my own, with an empty bottle of wine on his hand, swaggering (sorry, that's the worst word to describe his masculine, strong and manly walk, but it's also the best) away from me.
I got goosebumps just looking at him.
He came back with a brand new bottle, and sat in front of me again.
"It's your turn now." He said after we drank the amount due to my answer, which he found "Very fucking fair."
"The wicked thing you had most pleasure doing."
"Giving you all those hickeys, and forcing you to go to work with them."
I laughed.
"That's not very fair. I had to put like a pound of make up on top of them for like a week."
"Not fair? It was delicious to watch you try so hard to hide them, and let me do another one when I wanted."
I shook my head and drank, just for the hell of it.
"How about you?"
"Showing my hickeys and the stubble burns you left on my neck to my bitch of a neighbor who thinks she's so hot."
Not Eri, you guys.
"Fuck, that very fair." He kinda exhaled his approval.
And then I saw a box of chocolates I had gotten that morning on top of an arm chair. I crawled there and got them. Eating one, I offered him the box. He got one too.
"What's the saddest moment of your life?" I asked.
"Saddest? I thought this was supposed to be a fun game."
"Answer the question, Taisho."
He looked at me ans sighed.
"When you told me to forget you. And when you didn't open the door for me and I had to not see you until tonight."
"There was that night when you pretended to be Kouga and attacked me."
"That didn't count. Too fast, you didn't know it was me, I didn't get to really enjoy you."
"That's more than one moment, though."
"It isn't. It's been one huge moment that never ends. It ended two hours ago when I realized it was you in the elevator.
I was so drunk, so happy to be drunk with him, so lost in my own mind, thinking about a thousand things for our future together, a future that didn't exist, that I just smiled and lied down on the rug we were sitting on.
He did the same. Lied down by my side, almost as drunk as I was.
And we stayed there, looking at the ceiling, eating chocolates.
"Ask me what was the most perfect moment of my entire life, since I was born."
"What was the most perfect moment of your life, since you were born?"
He rolled over and landed on top of me.
"This one. Right now."
Then my vision started to get blurry, the stars stopped dancing and just floated around.
"I have another question." I whispered, since he was so close, while he toyed with a few strands of my hair.
"What is it?"
"Why are you alone in Paris? Why is Kikyou not with you?"
He gave me a side smile. A small, sad one.
"I'm alone in Paris because I was about to go crazy in New York, where everything reminds me of you. Kikyou is not here because she is the main reason I am here, the main cause you and I are not together in Paris now."
"You are really drunk. We are together in Paris. I'm right here."
"But not in the right way. You are not sleeping by my side every night, I'm not making you pancakes every morning, you are not lying on the couch drawing your clothes, wearing my favorite shirt while I take the dog out and get you more chocolates. You are not smiling at me everyday and you are not resting against my chest and you are not caressing my hair while I fight with Sesshoumaru over the phone."
I was smiling like the happiest woman alive, listening to his list.
"That's a coincidence. You weren't there when they invited me to Paris, or when I got into the plane, and now I have to sleep surrounded by pillows because you're not here to keep me warm at night, and I have to watch myself and not think about you at all so I won't start crying-"
"I told you, you fucking stubborn woman, that I wasn't going to forget you."
"You didn't try hard enough."
"Oh, but I did. I tried my best. But you're everywhere. Every – fucking – where."
"You just saying that because you're drunk."
"I'm saying that because it's all I wanted to say these last ten months."
I opened my eyes – I had closed them at some point – and found him drinking me in, those two pools of gold that were his eyes making me warm inside.
"Well. I'm here now, aren't I?"
"Yes, my love, you are. You are."
And then the stars said "Oooh, he kissed her! This is gonna leave a mark, yes sir!"
They were right.
That drunken kiss was – is – all I can think about.
I was so magically perfect, it all fit so well, so easily, that I couldn't tell him to stop. I couldn't, I wouldn't.
The last thing I remember abut that night is throwing my arms around him and tangling my legs with his, and that we made out for a very long time in my suite in Paris.
.:.
The next memory is me, waking up, all cozy in my bed, with a slight head ache. The slightest mention of light hurt me.
I was wearing my silk camisole.
I don't remember changing. I don't remember showering.
But, when I opened my eyes again, I found two flowers sitting on the pillow beside the one my head was resting on, and a note.
Taking care of you is all I ever want to do, for the rest of my life.
Sorry I couldn't wait for you to wake up. I had to catch a plane back to New York.
I still haven't forgotten you.
Love,
Inuyasha.
It smelled like him. And it was almost like he was there.
Looking around, I saw no evidence of our little party. He had, somehow, gotten rid of all the empty bottles. The glasses we used were all clean on top of the desk by my bed. My dress was hanging on the closet door. The drapes were closed, blocking the sun that would, without a doubt, make my head throb in pain. The air conditioner was on, and the duvet was tucked around me.
I smelled like soap.
It wasn't possible that he had helped me shower.
I closed my eyes and tried to remember.
Flashes of me inside the huge bath tub and him sitting outside came to my mind's eye.
He had taken care of everything. Including me.
So I lied back down on my pillows, tucked myself back in, closed my eyes and went back to sleep. Hoping I'd dream of him.
What was it that Bogart said?
"We'll always have Paris"?
That seemed about right.
I like Casablanca, ok? Talk to me, guys!