Moonlight
Chapter 20
"Crap, crap, crap! What am I doing? What's wrong with me? First I was running from him, then angry at him and now I'm helping him?"
She stood in the elevator, her heart fluttering from what just transpired in the conference room. Kagome wished the blasted door would close already, sealing her from that floor and take her back to her only safe haven in the building; her office.
Rin and Sesshomaru went off to some other meeting that unexpectedly came up and the senior Takashiro disappeared into his office after the meeting concluded. There was just one person she wasn't sure what happened to.
Slowly the doors began to glide shut and her pounding heart and tense muscles began to relax a bit.
Just as quickly though she heard a loud slam as someone had stuck their hand in between the doors to prevent them from closing. She looked up with a start and as the doors parted they revealed Inuyasha standing in front of her.
The look on his face was full of emotion but she couldn't quite put her finger on how he felt towards her. He stepped in and the doors closed sealing them both off from the world. She felt her face grow hot over not only what transpired in the conference room, but also over what happened in the restaurant.
"I left him on the floor in front of everyone," she thought. "I wonder if he's really angry?" There certainly wasn't any fear from him on her part, but she still wanted to know if his feelings were hurt.
She opened her mouth several times in the few seconds that they stood alone in the elevator. Yet each time she tried to speak, she couldn't form the words.
Then suddenly he pushed the 'STOP' button on the control panel causing the elevator car to screech and jerk to a halt. She looked up at him with uncertain eyes.
"What-?"
"Thank you," he smiled back at her before she could even question him further.
"Excuse me?" she asked, growing more anxious over being in such close quarters alone with him.
"You saved my skin back there," he smirked. "Why?"
She was so lost in his eyes for a second; he could be so damn dis-alarming. Instead of anger she found him smiling at her and thanking her.
Kagome blinked and looked away from him, crossing her arms across her chest and pouting stubbornly, "Don't think anything of it. I just…just felt bad that's all."
He continued to smirk at her, "So, can I assume I'm forgiven?"
She looked at him, refusing to give him the satisfaction of seeing her smile. It was a lot more difficult than she calculated.
With a deliberate roll of her eyes, she looked back at him, "Yea you are, but don't think now you can get fresh with me!" she quickly added.
His smile widened slightly, "So now we're partners?"
She gave him a knowing look.
"Right, right," he corrected, "partners on the project, I suggest we get started right away."
"I agree," she stated confidently. Her heart was still thumping away wildly in her chest. "Silly girl, get a hold of yourself. So you've forgiven him, so what?"
He pressed the button to start the elevator car again and she wanted to breathe a sigh of relief. The elevator was beginning to smell overwhelmingly like his cologne.
"Shall we try lunch tomorrow to figure out our plan of attack then?" he asked just as the elevator doors parted opening to her floor.
She walked past him and he held the doors open, "No," she turned around in time to see the sour expression on his face. "We'll have to get started sooner than that. This afternoon. I'll be in your office at 5. We'll have to continue on with the project tomorrow morning and can have lunch as well."
As she was about to walk away, she added another comment for good measure, "But no funny business!"
"On my honour," he placed a free hand over his heart and smiled.
Kagome looked at him, "And Inuyasha?"
"Yes?"
"We're not going back to the same place we were in today," she replied sternly with just a hint of humour in her tone.
He wanted to fall over with delight at the fact that she was discreetly joking with him, "Of course," he smirked back, "we wouldn't want to give 'em Act 2 after today."
She looked at him with a ghost of a smile before turning to walk away towards her office.
The door closed again and he sighed to himself, "I can't believe it. I guess she's finally starting to let it go."
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At 5 pm on the dot Kagome walked into his office. She was happy to see the warm cherry wooden walls and rich furniture. He was already seated behind the large wooden desk going over a stack of paperwork. To the side of the desk was an impressive drafting table with two stools put in front of it.
He looked up as she entered, "Hey right on time."
She looked at him and allowed a small smile in response, "Let's get started then?"
"Yea," he rose from his seat and walked towards her. "I set up a work station for us."
She was impressed by his work ethic and followed behind him. A round table set to the side of the room with two chairs along with a laptop and a few files on its top.
"Well we can both work here," he indicated towards the table.
"Um, thanks," she politely took a seat and noted the comfortable chair.
He smiled to himself and sat down in the other chair besides her, "I thought we'd go over the original designs first and then look into what wasn't approved. From my revisions so far, I think it's possible we can make the required adjustments without loosing the initial feel of the space. What do you say?"
Kagome watched him as he spoke seriously and opened a few files in front of her. She was happy not only to be working on something that actually pertained to her major, but also with the fact that Inuyasha wasn't acting weird.
She realized he was waiting for her response, "Oh um," she looked at the files, "I-I think that's a good plan. Um-" she began to flip through the files.
He watched her silently as she concentrated on the files in front of her.
"Hm," she finished surveying the technical drawings and some of the other paperwork, "Can you tell me what the feel of the original space was exactly?"
He snapped from his own thoughts and looked at her, "What'd you mean?"
"I mean what were you thinking when you imagined this space. Its design, purpose and feel," she explained encouragingly.
He looked down at the drawings on the table top and remembered the long hours he'd spent on them; methodically measuring and scaling each part to perfection.
"Well along with serving the purpose of being the largest open public space in the building, I wanted it to have an indoors/outdoors feel."
"How so?" she asked.
"Well you see the windows at the top of the tall walls here?" he began to explain.
Kagome listened silently and followed along with his train of thought. She would've never guessed someone with such a volatile temper could be so peaceful and thoughtful about his work. But then again this was his family's bread and butter.
They continued their discussion and assessment of the plans until everything of the planning stage was covered. Kagome sat back in her chair, her mind buzzing with architectural terms and plans. This proved to be much harder than admin work but she was still grateful for the hands on experience.
She looked down at her watch, "Oh my gosh, do you know what time it is?"
Inuyasha looked at her and looked down at his wrist watch, "Almost 8," he replied nonchalantly.
"Wow, we've been here for hours and I didn't even realize," she stretched her arms over her head.
Inuyasha saw her slender back curve as her muscles contracted and relaxed. He quickly averted his gaze and went to putting back the paperwork in their respective files.
She joined in to help him.
"I guess we'll call it a night for today then?" he asked smiling and knowing the answer.
She laughed, "Well I'm used to all-nighters with exams, but this is a lot more work!"
"Yea," he replied and walked to his desk to retrieve his things.
"What about the files and laptop?" Kagome asked.
"Leave it all, I'm going to lock the office door and no one else can get in after that," he replied. "Come on, grab your things and I'll give you a ride home."
She stopped to look at him and he met her gaze.
"What? Don't give me that look," he replied, "We're past that stuff now. It's just a car ride home so you're not exhausted for classes tomorrow."
She didn't say in response thinking about his words.
"I thought you said I was forgiven?" he asked walking to the door and holding it open for her.
"Yea but-" she started to walk towards him.
"Yea but nothing," he interrupted, "Just a ride home okay?"
She looked at him and nodded as she walked into the hallway. They made the rest of the trip in silence to the car except for quick exchanges about the work load of the project.
Finally they arrived at the car in the parking garage and both slipped inside. He turned on the ignition and the engine hummed to life.
"Hungry?" he asked holding his stomach.
"Nah," she looked at him unsure of what else to say. Just then however, her stomach protested and let out a loud gurgle.
He chuckled, "Sure about that?"
She smiled, "Not really…but-"
He quickly put the car into gear and backed out of the parking spot, "Alright Italian it is then!"
She looked at him incredulously, not sure whether or not she should insist he take her straight home or be grateful for some good Italian food in her empty stomach.
As they started their drive, she decided for the later.
"Well…" she began to reason with herself, "We did bury the hatchet finally. I guess we're on our way to some sort of friendship. Or at least some sort of weird business relationship."
She tried to look at him out of the corner of her eyes and remembered the scene at the restaurant.
"Um, about earlier today," she started. Kagome hated the way her voice sounded; meek, high-pitched and like a little girl.
"Hm?" he looked at her for a second while driving.
"At the restaurant," she tried to explain. Her face heated up to a flush and she tried to come up with the best words to portray her feelings.
He remained quiet, his attention focused on the road ahead but his thoughts attuned to her.
"Well-I'm really sorry about running out like that," she looked down at her lap and twisted her hands about. "It's just that being put in a spot like that and-"
"Kagome," he broke in gently.
She looked at him as he gazed at her smiling.
"It's alright. I understand. And honestly I really did deserve that," he confessed. "Besides didn't we say that's all in the past?"
"Yes, but-"
"Well then let it all be forgotten. We've got more important things to think about," he happily interrupted.
"Oh?" she smiled slightly relieved at his good mood.
"Yea, like how to finish this project in time, how to present it to everyone, figure out a good schedule between classes and this and most important of all for now," he looked at her and winked, "what to order for dinner tonight. I am starving!"
She burst out laughing at his remark as the car continued down the highway.
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"Oh my gosh, you're not serious?" Sango squealed into the phone line and Kagome held the receiver from her ear in fear of temporary deafness.
"My ear Sango," she laughed.
"Oh, oh, sorry!" she replied, "So he got down on his knees? Like on his knees, not crouched down, but ON HIS KNEES?"
Kagome giggled, "Yes on his knees for the 15th time."
"And you left him hanging," she burst out into a laugh.
Kagome couldn't help but laugh, "I didn't mean to," she sauntered into her bedroom and lay across the soft bed top.
"But you did," Sango kept on laughing hard.
"You're so mean," Kagome chided softly.
"Okay, okay, I'm the mean one," Sango replied sarcastically. "So then what?"
Kagome stared up at her ceiling with the phone pressed to her ear, "So then we were called into some emergency meeting where he nearly got his ass chewed out by his father for making some mistakes. And I sort of offered my assistance in helping to clean up the project with him."
"With Inuyasha?" Sango asked eagerly.
Kagome rolled her eyes, "Yes."
"So you two are what now?" Sango asked a bit cautiously.
"Well," Kagome flipped over on her stomach with her elbows supporting her head and staring out to the full moon outside. "I guess we've buried the hatchet as he put it and are starting out just as co-workers on this project for now."
"And do project co-workers usually go out to dinner?" Sango giggled.
Kagome laughed in her defence, "Hey! It wasn't like a dinner-dinner! You know like a date or anything. We worked late and were both starving. It was more of a business dinner."
"I'm sure," Sango quipped.
Kagome huffed, "Shut it! I really don't want to go down that path with him again."
"Seriously?" Sango asked.
The raven-haired young woman looked up at the moon shining through her bedroom window and was reminded of cascading waves of silver hair.
"Hello?" Sango's voice broke through her thoughts.
It was refreshing to finally let go of most of her anger towards him. She was still on guard over her feelings though. "But maybe we're meant just to be friends," she thought to herself.
Her heart warmed at the thought of spending more time with him at work and outside as well. "Maybe he's not a total disappointment. We'll see."
"Kagome, daydreaming about who then?" Sango teased.
Kagome chuckled, "Not funny. I just don't want to expect something from nothing you know?"
"Yea," Sango sighed, "Besides, I wouldn't want to have to go and break his legs for messing with you again."
She let out a hearty laugh at the comment and visual that popped up in her head and then a sigh. "I think I'm off to bed. It's so late already and we have class tomorrow."
"Uh huh, this conversation isn't over but go ahead. It's definitely late. Nighty night."
"Bye," with that Kagome hung up and crawled under her covers.
Her last weary thoughts were of a smiling, laughing moment with Inuyasha that was shared over dinner. Content, full and at peace she slipped off to sleep.
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