Secrets
AN - Alright, so I actually died this time, but it's all good. I was resurrected with blood-magic. I apologize for how long it took to update.
Naraku stood with one hand on his hip and the other stroking his chin. Surrounding him on the floor were several printed articles which had material aimed at his thesis. He had read them countless times already, but he figured Jade needed to read some of them if she was going to be his assistant. However, he could not decide which ones were more important.
"She can start with you," he murmured as he bent over to pick up the stapled papers. He tossed the article on the couch and continued his judgment of the remaining articles on the floor. His eyes shifted to the side when he saw something dart across the room just out of his peripherals. Naraku stepped over the circle of papers and walked to the other side of the couch, stopping and tilting his head when he recognized his gray guinea pig sitting patiently on the floor.
"How the hell," Naraku choked out his words, turning to look at the now-empty cage. The side door was open, but the cage was sitting on a table, meaning the guinea pig took a dive. The man looked back at the escapee guinea pig, which immediately took off running again. Naraku followed it quickly, prepared to scoop the pig up. However, the guinea pig was aware of this game and ran under Naraku's dining table, darting in between the table and chair legs while squeaking. Naraku dropped to his knees, weaved his body in between the legs, and tried grabbing the dodging furball with a single hand, but it slipped through his fingers like silk.
"Alright, look," Naraku began, but stopped when he realized he was actually going to reason with a guinea pig. He exhaled loudly and glared at the pig, which was sitting patiently, as if to say, "I'm listening."
"You're not cute. Come here." Naraku ordered as he snapped his fingers. Nine times out of ten, the guinea pig would follow the "sit" and "come" commands. Naraku groaned when the guinea pig chose that one out of ten times to not listen. To add injury to insult, the guinea pig dodged between the chair legs, causing Naraku to wrap his limbs around the legs and then strike his head under the table when he tried to abort the ridiculous table-weaving mission. The pig then ran towards the papers Naraku had organized on the floor. The tall man untangled himself from his table and chair legs and marched over to the guinea pig, which was now nibbling on an article. Naraku tried to scoop it with both hands, but the critter leaped over his hands and ran to another pile of papers, nibbling and munching even faster than before.
'You little bastard!' Naraku wanted to scream. He tried diving forward, cursing when the pig slipped away again, running between his legs and finding yet another pile to chew on. Naraku's strands of long black hair swung through the air like whips as he twisted his body and dove backwards, finally scooping the pig into his hands and raising it up in the air as he landed on his back.
"Heh, you forget that I'm smarter." Naraku said victoriously, watching the furry hostage wiggle and squeal defiantly in his grasp. He chuckled lightly before sitting up and placing the pig against his chest. Instantly, it crawled up to his shoulder and spun around, it's back legs hanging down his back and its front paws gripping his shirt. Naraku rolled his eyes, his hand quickly stroking the guinea pig's head. A purr erupted loudly and the guinea pig actually vibrated.
"What...was that?" Naraku asked slowly, feeling the horrified expression carve into his face. He reached up and stroked the guinea pig once more. Again, the critter purred loudly, it's body vibrating with the noise. Naraku dropped his hand and looked away, feeling a warmth fill his cheeks. He didn't even want to think about the word, "cute."
Naraku finished organizing the articles he wanted Jade to read. Once he had them gathered in a single stack, he held the stack up to his shoulder, allowing the guinea pig to nibble on the ends of the papers. It kept the pig happy and seemingly convinced it to not jump from his shoulder and take off again, so Naraku was more than willing to let it nibble. Plus, that would alert Jade that the pig was still very much alive. She had been asking Naraku about the critter ever since she learned of its existence three days prior.
"I've entertained the idea of just giving you to her, but then she might think that I care about you. Or her. Or it'll be interpreted as a kindness. So, you will remain here with me and I will find you a new cage that you cannot easily escape from." he told the gray pig, who was chirping, telling his own story in reply.
After putting the escaped prisoner pig back into its cage, Naraku sat on his couch first, but then decided to stretch out and think of what to do next. Naraku's eyes closed momentarily, his mind drifting into a haze as one leg and one arm hung off the side of the couch. He remembered wanting to do something, but he couldn't quite remember what it was he wanted to do. Maybe he just wanted to do something in general, but had no ideas in mind? A buzzing sound immediately stirred him from his near-slumber. He sat up quickly, hand digging into his pocket for his phone.
'Your samples arrived today. I have them in my office, but I am not on campus now. I can give them to you tomorrow morning if you want them. Cheers - Bruce'
Naraku read the email over and over again, pacing the floor of his living room. His samples were finally within his grasp, but they were also just out of his reach!
"Of course Bruce would leave campus when he physically has my samples locked in his office." Naraku spat, glancing over at the guinea pig. It was sitting and staring at him. Maybe it really did listen to him. Naraku stopped pacing when he heard a loud thump above him and an eruption of laughter. He glanced at his watch and exhaled with irritation.
"It's party time. How could I forget?" he grumbled. He collapsed onto his couch once more. This time, however, his eyes did not close. His fingers tapped his stomach. His leg shook impatiently. Naraku had waited months to begin his research and climb the ranks in the scientific community. He could wait no longer.
Naraku pulled on black pants and a black sweatshirt and walked out of his apartment. The loud chatter and thundering music from the apartment above his placed Naraku in a very particular mood. The email from Bruce alerting him that his thesis samples were now sitting on Bruce's desk in Bruce's office without supervision was all too enticing for Naraku to remain home any longer. His car could have been flying with how elated Naraku felt.
'No one will argue with me once I present my research for these samples.' Naraku thought, impatiently tapping the steering wheel as he waited for the red light to turn green. When it did, he sped away, certain that he could afford to speed a little now that it was dark and traffic was light.
The usual twenty-minute drive to campus took him ten and instead of parking in the lot behind the building, he chose an empty lot where he was certain there were no cameras. He tied his long, wavy hair into a single ponytail and stuffed the tendrils inside his sweatshirt before pulling the hood up over his head. Naraku kept his head down while walking to the building and ran the layout of the offices through his head. Bruce's office was the third door on the right on the main floor when entering from the East. Naraku turned and decided that would be his path, but stopped when something caught his eye.
"I don't believe it," Naraku whispered to himself, a wide grin stretching onto his lips. He counted the sets of windows twice to make entirely sure that the one window left open was the window of Bruce's office. Naraku stepped back and prepared to leap over the ten-foot gap, which held various flowers and rocks used to give the building an, "atmosphere," and to give windows a harder access point. But, before Naraku could sprint forward, his own gut seemed to scream, "Wait!" And so he did. Naraku ran the situation through his head again.
'Maybe the open window is too good to be true,' he thought. Why would Bruce tell him his samples had arrived and then make it a point to also inform Naraku that he was not on campus and that he would have to wait? Naraku was a patient man, but he had waited for his samples long enough.
"Fuck it." Naraku grumbled before sprinting forward and leaping over the pit of flowers and landing on the concrete ledge of the building. His hands grasped the open window powerfully to keep his momentum from causing him to topple backwards. Naraku let a breath of excitement escape his lungs before climbing into the office. Naraku took the giant box sitting on the desk and checked the addresses. He saw they addressed the box to his name.
'My box.' Naraku mouthed silently. He turned around to slide the box out onto the windowsill. He stepped back out onto the ledge and tossed the box to the other side. His samples were not breakable, but his arms and legs were. Naraku walked down to where the ledge met the brick wall of the building and sped up. Naraku jumped and kicked himself off the wall and twisted his body mid-air, landing on the front half of his feet on the ledge of the other side. He threw his arms out to balance his body before regaining control and stepping down. Naraku snatched up his box and chuckled before whistling a little tune as he trekked back to his car.
He was so excited that his neighbors' loud music didn't even bother him when he returned home. Naraku sat down on his couch and pulled out his pocket knife, flicking the blade out and cutting the tape holding the flaps down. One by one, Naraku pulled out the plastic storage bags holding the smaller plastic bags of dirt samples within them. They all had a series of numbers written on them, which acted as their individual labels. When he emptied the box, he stopped all movement when something caught his eye. At the very bottom of the box was a small lump. It looked like a small deformity of the cardboard at first, but when Naraku looked closer, he could see that there was brown tape covering something.
"Did they damage the box and attempt to fix it?" Naraku asked himself, cutting away at the tape with his knife. He received his answer when he pulled up the tape. Attached to the bottom, folded up into a small square, was a piece of paper. Naraku blinked, gently unfolding the paper and brushing the box onto the couch beside him. He flinched when something fell onto his lap.
"What is this?" he whispered, pinching the purple substance between his thumb and index finger. He held it up, frowning. It looked like a broken piece of jewelry. Naraku held the paper up at eye level in his other hand and realized there was a message written on it….in Japanese.
'An additional sample for your research. It is not quartz. It is not zircon. It is not diamond. It's harder than all of those. It was found in the center of the area where your samples were taken. Be careful who you tell about it.'
"It can scratch diamond?" That piqued Naraku's interest. Diamond was unscratchable, except by another, harder diamond. He placed the paper down and inspected the fragmented gem closer. It was somewhat translucent, but what interested Naraku the most was the purple color it held. Many minerals that occurred naturally did not look half as brilliant as this particular...he wasn't even sure what to call it. The secret note said nothing about what it was.
"Hm," he huffed, leaning back and staring up at his ceiling. His fingers still pinched the purple fragment tightly.
'I just won't tell anyone about it. Not Bruce, definitely not Sesshomaru,' he decided. 'Not even Jade.'
000000
Sesshomaru's pen quickly scratched numbers onto the paper. He was solving a few calculations to tell him how much of each chemical to mix with one another. His plan was to prepare for his thesis samples, which were to arrive soon, but for the past few days, every time he would go to use the needed beakers, Naraku would swoop in and take them. He would bring them back hours later, completely unused. Sesshomaru had adopted Jade's tactic of just allowing it to happen and acting like it wasn't bothering him, but his face or his eyes must have betrayed him, because Naraku knew it was bothering him. Sesshomaru inhaled through his nose deeply and exhaled. He heard Jade's voice as the door shook from being quickly unlocked and pushed open and looked over to watch the spectacle.
"Are you ready for some science, slave?" Naraku asked Jade with feigned excitement, marching past her and snapping his fingers in her face.
"Yes, slave-driver Naraku." Jade answered evenly, as if discussing the weather. Sesshomaru saw Naraku's eyebrows furrow slightly.
"Not even the slightest bit of annoyance?" Naraku urged, pinching a small space between his thumb and index finger.
"You're openly begging for it now? How the mighty have fallen." Jade responded with a sigh, but even Sesshomaru could feel the smile wanting to tear through her lips from across the room. Or maybe that was his own?
"Fine, fine. I was lying, anyway. You don't get to do actual science today. You get to do pre-science." Naraku held up the binder he had tucked under his arm. "You need to read these thoroughly. Highlight, take notes, ask questions; do whatever it is you do when studying for an exam."
"Get high?"
"If that helps you absorb the knowledge from these papers better, by all means," he responded, placing the binder down on the table in front of Jade. That seemed to drag Jade down from her usual expression of, "Meh," to, "I'd rather get ran over." It was enough to please Naraku, apparently. He chuckled deeply while planting his hand on her head and patting it a couple of times before walking out of the room. When the door closed, Sesshomaru stood up from his temporary desk.
"You're quite the player." Sesshomaru said, sliding his hands into his pockets.
"No idea what you're talking about." Jade replied dismissively, shaking her head slightly. "He and I- we're not like that,"
"I'm not talking about that. I know Naraku well enough. You are stringing him along, however, and it's rather amusing."
"You guys give me way too much credit where Naraku is concerned. It's not that hard to just let him do whatever."
"You guys?"
"Bruce, you," Jade listed off, holding two fingers up.
"You can't honestly tell me he doesn't bother you." Sesshomaru pushed on. Jade shrugged before scratching her cheek. The cut was mostly healed, but part of the scab still itched from time to time...usually when she spoke to Sesshomaru.
"I mean, yeah, he's an ass, but I don't know. I guess I'm kind of used to it."
"You're used to him treating you as an object of amusement?" Sesshomaru repeated slowly, arching an eyebrow.
"He's upfront about it, at least. Honesty is a positive trait." Jade remarked as she sat on the stool nearest to her and opened the black binder. Sesshomaru seemed to have received whatever answer he wanted from her because he left the room quietly.
'Why does he even care?' Jade wondered with irritation. She could understand Bruce's questioning of why she puts up with Naraku's antics, but who was Sesshomaru to question anything about her? She grumbled curses as she scratched the scab on her cheek even harsher than before. When Jade could finally think straight, she looked directly at the first page of the first article Naraku wanted her to read. Her gaze strayed to the corners, which looked to be torn off, but when she leaned closer, she could see tiny teeth impressions. Jade snickered and wondered if Naraku let the guinea pig chew it on purpose as some sort of slight towards her.
"Where did he even go?" Jade asked herself quietly. It wasn't like Naraku to let her off so easily, even if she did give him some kind of reaction. She closed the binder and walked out of the lab to find out what was so much more important than being irritating to a lab slave.
Naraku twisted his wrist to glance at his watch before scribbling the time onto a piece of paper held by a clipboard. He added on the date and murmured, "Science, bitch," before slamming the clipboard down on the sidewalk out of his way.
'If this doesn't work, I'm not quite sure where to go from here.' Naraku realized with a smile, slipping the heavy gloves over his hands. He pressed one hand to his chest, the anxiety of uncertainty scratching against his torso. Naraku closed his eyes and inhaled deeply through his nose, holding the air for a second before exhaling through his mouth. He bent over and grabbed a metallic mask with tinted lenses, pulling it over his head while grumbling curses when he realized his thick hair was not going to play nicely with the straps.
"That's what I get for being stylistic, I suppose." he commented in a low voice after finally adjusting the mask over his face and hair comfortably. He grabbed the blowtorch from the hook of his jerry-rigged tripod setup to hold the little jewel in a refractory bowl to be heated until it, hopefully, melted. Naraku didn't want to think about not being able to melt it within reasonable means. Not now. He twisted the valve to release the gas and watched as the bluish-white flame erupted from the tip of the torch.
'What if I aim it directly at the fragment and not the bowl?' Naraku wondered, immediately aiming the flame away from the bowl and directly at the fragment of the unknown substance in the bowl. Within a few minutes, he started rocking his head side-to-side with a beat only he could hear.
"Do I want to know?" a voice droned with a slight whine. Naraku barely heard it over the loud hum of the blowtorch, but he released the trigger and turned his head, lifting the mask from his face and greeting Bruce with a cheeky smile.
"Drugs, Bruce. Drugs." Naraku replied.
"I should call the police. I really, really should."
"For?"
"Breaking into my office, operating dangerous equipment on a public walkway, I doubt your bloodstream is clear of drugs, I can go on,"
"Please do. I love hearing about myself." Naraku stifled a yawn.
"Prick. You're lucky I find your research to be incredibly important. Now, where is Jade? I thought she was your assistant slave or whatever you called her."
"Inside doing bitch-work."
"She's too smart to be used so uselessly. I hope she leaves just to spite you." Bruce griped as he walked away towards the commons area where the restaurants on campus resided.
"She won't." Naraku sighed, pulling his mask back down over his face and continuing the heated onslaught of the strange jewel. Every two minutes or so, he would poke the jewel with a metallic file to see if the surface of the jewel would give away even slightly. When it didn't, Naraku blasted it with more fire, holding the tip of the nozzle as close to the fragment as he could. He almost wished he could melt it with the amount of frustration that was building within him at the moment.
"You piece of," Naraku cut off, poking the fragment harder, wondering if he could break even a sliver off, but it still would not give. He had tried breaking it with several hammers the previous day and even took it to the gym with him earlier that morning to crush it with the weights. It seemed this gem, whatever it was, was indestructible.
'If it won't break or melt, can it even be dissolved?' An irritated sigh escaped Naraku's lungs.
"Soooooo...what's this about?" Jade inquired as she approached her lab boss and waved her hand at his set-up. Naraku glanced at her before shaking his head.
"This is a side project. Are you finished with the articles?" Naraku asked her in return, turning the gem over again. Not even a tiny scratch or deformity.
"Pfft, no."
"I see that. Well, I suppose I could have you grab lunch for me."
"I'll eat it."
"Fine." Naraku pulled the mask off his head entirely and huffed as he stared at the jewel. His eyes shifted to the side when Jade leaned forward to look at it.
"Drugs?" she asked with a grin.
"Yes. Fetch me lunch and don't eat it." Naraku moved in front of her to break her eye contact with the jewel. Jade leaned back and rolled her eyes.
"Give me money for your lunch and I won't eat it." Jade insisted, stretching out her hand and twitching her fingers. Naraku pulled a glove off and reached into his back pocket. He grabbed a bill and handed it to her.
"My usual salad. No szechuan peppers this time, dear." Naraku cooed with a smile, but Jade could almost physically taste the bitterness hiding behind his sweet tone. Jade plucked the money from his fingers and backed away while giggling.
"That wasn't me, by the way. I wasn't the only one in the room with your salad that time." Jade reminded him before turning around and marching away, whistling a little tune to her pace. Naraku exhaled and pursed his lips. The only other person in the room that time was Bruce. Naraku snorted and picked up his clipboard, scribbling down a few notes and deciding to call it a day from trying to break the jewel.
Naraku began taking apart his equipment and realized he was gritting his teeth. If he couldn't break the gem, or melt it, would dissolving it even work? Or did it need a longer time in heat? He placed the bowl holding the jewel on the ground and then removed his gloves. He pulled his phone from his pocket and pulled up his contacts list. He locked his phone when he saw Jade walking around the side of the building with a styrofoam container in one hand and a bottle of water in the other.
"I only asked for a salad." Naraku pointed out once she was close enough to hear him .
"I knew you'd say that. I bought it with my money." Jade giggled and handed him the bottle anyway. She reached into her pocket and grabbed his change and held it out to him, but Naraku stared her down before wiggling the salad and water bottle with both hands, indicating he could not take it. Jade placed the money on top of the salad container and snickered as Naraku looked to the side to let the moment of irritation slip away.
"We need to speak about this situation of me teaching a lab and you assisting." Naraku announced as he walked towards a nearby bench.
"Okay." Jade replied, following him and sitting beside him. Naraku pocketed his change and opened his salad, stabbing at the lettuce and taking a bite.
"I have a general lesson plan, so I'll email it to you. I do need you to email your class schedule to me, though."
"Whyyyyyyy?" Jade asked, feeling her cheeks flush with cold blood. She wasn't sure how comfortable she was with Naraku knowing her schedule for anything other than working with him. Naraku looked at her and pursed his lips thoughtfully.
"You will be helping me grade. I need to know when you're free."
"I can just tell you."
"I also just need to know in general since you will be working for me. I'm sure you gave your boss at your other job your class schedule."
"I can just tell you." she repeated. Naraku arched an eyebrow, his eyes darting to his salad. He then lifted the container to her.
"Tomato?" he offered.
"A tomato for my class schedule?"
"I'll give you a dollar for the water, too."
"Mm, you're not making this easy on me," Jade stated dryly. Naraku lowered his salad and shrugged, taking another bite.
"If I wanted to stalk you, I would have."
"How do I know you haven't?" Jade asked jokingly, but her eyes widened when she saw him smile.
"I'll find out one way or another. Why play when you've already lost?" Naraku replied. Jade exhaled slowly. She bit her lips closed when he offered her the salad again, one slice of tomato remaining in the mix. Jade plucked it from the container and dropped it in her mouth, standing up slowly. She heard a buzz and figured it was Naraku's phone.
"I'll send it to you, Senpai. Anything else?"
"The money I owe you," Naraku stated after unlocking his phone and reading the bank message he received. Jade turned to him and frowned.
"Yeah?"
"Come to my apartment tonight. I'll have it ready for you."
