Chapter 14

Sakura's POV

"Well I better be heading home now." I said to Masaru's grandmother as Ayame and Masaru went off to the dry cleaners with Sesshomaru's clothes hidden in the pile. "It was nice meeting you ma'am."

"Please, just call me Granny." She insisted. "I don't see any reason for a friend of my grandson's to be so formal."

"Alright then Granny. Thank you!" I smiled at her. "I'll just get my things and head off." Granny smiled and while she went to the kitchen to start cooking dinner I went to pick up my book bag and get Sesshomaru. I was about to reach for the doorknob, but I stopped myself and instead knocked on the door quietly. "Sesshomaru?" I whispered. "It's time for us to go." The knob turned and the door opened with Sesshomaru standing on the other side. He was wearing the black t-shirt he had been holding earlier, but it was a little too tight on him so I could still see his finely honed muscles through it. I looked up and noticed that he was still wearing the fluffy thing on his shoulder which seemed a little out of place compared to the rest of his outfit.

"Uhh... D-don't you want to have your- fluffy thing?- cleaned too?" I asked. He glanced at it then looked back at me.

"No." He replied.

"O-ok... Let's go." I turned and began to lead the way.

"Isn't this yours?" Sesshomaru asked. I turned around to see what he was talking about when I saw him holding my book bag in one hand.

"Oh! I almost forgot it!" I took it from him hurriedly. "Thanks." As we pasted the kitchen I peeked in to make sure that Granny wouldn't notice us. She was facing the stove with her back turned to us and I waved to Sesshomaru. We hurried to the front door as quickly and silently as possible and I let Sesshomaru sneak out before he was seen. Once he was outside I turned to Granny and said goodbye.

"Be careful on your way home." She replied.

"I will. Goodbye!" I nearly ran out the front door and saw Sesshomaru looking at the mailbox curiously. That's weird. It's like he's never seen one before. I brushed the thought aside and ran up to him. "Alright, let's go!" I cheered enthusiastically. I grabbed Sesshomaru's elbow and pulled him with me to the bus stop with no resistance from him. We hadn't even walked to the end of the block when I realized that I was alone with Sesshomaru for the first time out in public. I got nervous and began trying to start a conversation but to no avail. My mind was racing so fast that I didn't know what I was saying, but he wasn't in a chatty mood anyways so it didn't make a difference. When we finally made it to the bus stop I finally shut up and we stood there together waiting for the bus. A minute went by in silence and I checked my watch.

"The bus should be here any second now." I said not expecting an answer.

"Will you let go of my arm?" He asked.

"Huh?!" I looked up at him. I was so surprised that he had said something that it took me a second to realize that he had asked me to let go of him. I looked down and saw that I was still clinging to his arm like he was escorting me somewhere. "O-OH! Sorry about that!" I quickly put my hands in front of me and gripped my bag until my knuckles turned white. I kept my head down so I wouldn't have to look at him and shuffled my feet nervously until the bus arrived and I gladly walked towards the door. Turned back to see if Sesshomaru was following, but he hadn't moved.

"Come on." I said nodding my head towards the bus. "The bus is the fastest way to get back." He looked at the bus strangely then followed. I silently sighed in relief that I didn't have to pull him in after he had been so annoyed with how I had held onto his arm earlier.

As we got on I looked around for a good seat. There weren't very many people on the bus so I went four rows back and sat down by the window. Sesshomaru followed right behind me and as he sat next to me the doors closed and the bus started to move on to its next destination. I couldn't take the awkward silence any longer so I once again tried to start up a conversation.

"So, uh, Sesshomaru… Do you live in the city?" I looked up at him hopefully.

"No." He said without even a side glance.

"Oh. What about in the countryside? Do you live nearby?" Maybe his house is somewhere that's just walking distance from my house! He could have just moved here or something.

"No."

"Oh…" I looked down at my lap. I guess not… "Say, where did you learn to fight like you did back at that alley? It was really impressive!"

"That wasn't even a fraction of my real strength." He replied.

"Huh?!" He's stronger than that?! "Who taught you?!"

"My father did when I was young, but I learned mostly from experience after he died."

"Your father died? I'm sorry."

"What's there to be sorry about?" He asked. "You didn't even know him."

"Well, that's just so sad." I replied.

"It was a long time ago and everyone dies at some point so it doesn't really matter to me." He explained.

"He must have been a great father." I heard myself saying. The bus hit a bump on the road and we bounced out of our seats for a second. We went back into silence for a few seconds as I tried to put what I wanted to say into words. "Sesshomaru." I said in a quiet voice.

"Hn?"

"Thank you." I said. "Thank you for saving me back in the alley. I don't know what would have happened to me if you hadn't shown up when you did, but I know it wouldn't have been pretty. Thank you." He didn't say 'you're welcome' or 'hn' or anything for that matter. He just continued to stare forward without any expression on his face. I can't figure out what he's thinking at all. He's so mysterious… Suddenly I felt a yawn sneak up on me and my eyes became heavy. Darn it. I hadn't been able to get much sleep the past few nights and the motion of the bus always makes me drowsy. Now that all the excitement from everything that happened today had died down, I felt exhausted. I felt my head dropping and I tried to keep it up, but I just couldn't fight my exhaustion.

Sesshomaru's POV

I felt something suddenly land on my shoulder and I turned my head to see Sakura resting her head on my shoulder where she had fallen fast asleep. I considered waking her up, but when I saw the peaceful look on her face I decided against it. There's no harm in letting her sleep for now. As long as she wakes up in time for us to get off this thing. She looked so much younger than she did when she was awake and somehow more innocent. Something stirred inside me and I felt my heart go a little faster for a moment then my thoughts were interrupted.

"Hey mister." A voice behind me said. I turned to see a girl about twelve years old standing on the seat behind us. She looked at me with excitement. "Is she your girlfriend mister?" Girlfriend?!

"Don't be ridiculous." I snapped and turned back around.

"Oh, well that's too bad." She continued to speak. "She really seems to like you."

"What would you know? You're just a child." I argued and ended the discussion. I heard her giggle and sit back down in her seat. I look down at Sakura again and listened to her deep, slow breathing. Sakura likes me?

"Do you like her?" The girl pried.

"That's none of your business." I growled.

…

Sakura's POV

I wasn't sure how long I slept for, but when the world slowly started to fade back into my conscious I vaguely realized that I was resting my head on something soft and fluffy. I opened my eyes a crack and saw that whatever I was resting on was white. It feels heavenly… I thought to myself and smiled. I never want to take my head off of it ever! I wonder what it is… Then I remembered where I was. That's right… I'm on the bus with Sesshomaru and we're heading home together. Now that I think about it, Sesshomaru has a white fluffy thing- oh no. My eyes flashed open and once I was fully awake I realized what I was sleeping on.

"AHHH!" I sat up in a panic and began waving my hands. "I'm sorry Sesshomaru! I didn't mean to fall asleep on your shoulder like that honest! It was just an accident and-" Sesshomaru looked me in the eyes and I froze. As I gazed into his golden eyes I felt like he was telling me that it hadn't bothered him at all that I had fallen asleep and that it was ok. He couldn't really be thinking that though, could he? It's probably just my imagination. The bus brakes squealed as the bus came to a complete stop and I looked out the window. "Oh! This our stop Sesshomaru." We both stood up and as we exited the bus, I paid the driver who smiled at me mischievously. "Is something wrong?" I asked him.

"Nothing." He said and looked over at Sesshomaru. "Have fun with your boyfriend."

"What?!" I squeaked. "H-he's not my boyfriend!" I defended. The bus driver raised an eyebrow as I nearly jumped out of the bus. "The clubhouse is this way." I said to Sesshomaru and began to speed walk towards the woods.