Disclaimer: This fanfic is an adaptation of the Novel of the same name by W. Somerset Maugham. Neither "Inuyasha" nor "The Painted Veil" belong to me.
He woke up from the afternoon slumber when she gave a startled cry.
"What's the matter?" - he asked
In the darkness of the shuttered room, he could see the terror in those blue eyes.
-"Somebody just tried to open the door"
-"Maybe it was the Amah, or one of the boys"
-"They know better than to disturb me on my afternoon nap"
"-Then who else could have been?"
"Sesshomaru" she whispered, her lips trembling.
She pointed at the shoes, and the rest of his clothes that littered the floor. In a hurry, he struggled to put his pants on, while she quickly wrapped a kimono over her naked figure and struggled to comb her curls in a semblance of order. She handed him his coat.
"How should I get out?" - he whispered.
"Wait and let me see if it's alright. Where is your hat?"
"I left in it in the drawing room"
"Are you serious? Oh my God, what if Sesshomaru saw it?" -she whispered furiously.
"It can't possibly be him. Didn't you tell me that he does not leave the laboratory until five?".
She was trembling and frantic, and it dawned on him how this liaison was nothing but a terrible and utterly foolish idea. She was beautiful and sweet, but impulsive and prone to outbursts - a quality that made her an impressive lay, but completely useless in a crisis like the one at hand. The room that just an hour ago was filled with their pants and moans, had suddenly gained an eerie and silent quality. Drawing a breath to calm himself, he quickly lost his cool when both set of eyes looked at the crystal knob of the door slowly turning it open. She was about to scream, an impulse that he quickly dampened by putting his hand on her mouth.
Silence. She snuggled against him, and silently and suddenly as it had happened, the doorknob slowly turned to its normal position, followed by the slow thump of steps going through the hallway and down the stairs. She was white as a sheet, and crying silently, sobs only muffled by his hand.
"For God's sake don't do that"- he shushed -"it is only a one-in-a hundred chance that it was your husband. Does he ever come at this time of the day?"
-"Never"
- "I am sure it was the Amah. Have a little faith, Kagome, after all, what kind of husband sees a strange hat in the drawing room and the wife's room locked without creating some sort of a row?. Only a servant would turn the knob in such a way".
Kagome chuckled among her sobs, and relaxed in the arms of her lover. Feeling more like herself, she said "Even if it was just the Amah, it certainly was not pleasant". Kissing him on the lips, she carefully opened the door and looked down the hallway, down the stairs, all the way to the front door. Relieved to see no sign of her husband, she hurried back into her room and kissed the man on the lips.
"Nobody" - she breathed.
"Didn't I tell you to have a little faith?"
"Silly man! Dress up and wait for me in the drawing room, after all, we have to maintain appearances" - after pushing him affectionately out of the door, he did as she bade.