If I Could Say What I Want To Say
Chapter 10 – Since When Do Red Post-Its Equal Death?
Disclaimer: I don't own the Inuyasha characters, but Ayame is modelled slightly after me sooooo yeah taken a bit of creative liberty with her.
Yawning noisily, Ayame threw the covers off and climbed out of bed. Looking the alarm clock, Ayame wasn't surprised to see it was just a little past one o'clock in the afternoon; she had been exhausted.
Yet even though it was past noon, Ayame's room, as always, was pitch black, courtesy of modern technology and a few innovative features of her own creation. Complete and utter darkness was the only way in which she could sleep; she had been like that ever since she was a child. As weird as most people thought she was, that had always been the way she liked it; no noise, no light, no distractions. Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, Ayame walked confidently over to where she knew her curtains were. There was no need to worry about tripping over things or stubbing her toes on furniture; she knew her room like the back of her hand, if not better, and always kept it in immaculate condition. Heaven only knew the room was small enough as it was without all her clutter making it appear smaller.
Throwing back the curtains, Ayame closed her eyes as sunshine washed over her, illuminating the whole room, fuchsia walls and all. Fingering the curtains, Ayame couldn't suppress the pride she felt every time she thought about them. She had made them herself, making absolutely certain they wouldn't let any light through. Losing hours of what little sleep she actually managed to get because of cheap curtains was defiantly something she avoided at all costs.
There were many reasons Ayame kept people out of her room at all costs, an easy enough thing to do surprisingly; all she had ever needed to say was that it was worse than a pigsty hit by a tornado. Turning around, Ayame looked at her personalized room now clearly visible in all its glory thanks to the sunlight. Figuring she would be living there for a good portion of her life, she had gone against regulations and purposely painted the thing. Her room reflected her to a dot.
The room was done to an Indian theme, a personal favourite of Ayame's, with fuchsia walls and orange piping along the tops and bottoms. A myriad of complimentary Indian coloured throw pillows were currently on the floor instead of on the bed, which was a canopy bed hung with brilliantly coloured silk. In the corner was her desk made of a beautiful dark mahogany and there was a matching set of drawers to store her clothes in. Her precious curtains matched the room as well, a lovely orange colour.
Ayame laughed at the memory of trying to find a way of smuggling everything she had ordered in. 'Lets just say,' Ayame thought mischievously, 'that being head of security was a huge pro sometimes. All you have to do is mention a suspected bomb and the whole building is yours.'
Yawning again, Ayame turned and walked into the bathroom where she immediately began to brush her teeth out of habit. Her demon senses had always been sensitive to smelly breath and hers was defiantly stinky. 'Must have been the tea I had earlier,' Ayame thought with a shrug.
Once finished, Ayame took one look in the mirror and sighed. 'Bed head. I knew it." Resigning herself to the unhappy task of untangling all the knots, Ayame grabbed her detangling spray and brush and settled down on her bed. Untangling her hair wasn't painful, it just took a long time; that was the only problem. 'Thick hair,' Ayame thought, 'I still can't make up my mind whether it's a curse or a blessing.'
Half-way through the process, Ayame thought she heard a soft knock on her door but ignored it. She was probably just hearing someone knock on someone else's door; after all everyone knew that you didn't knock on her door, not unless you were suicidal. Shaking her head, Ayame continued with her task, but just as she was finishing, Ayame heard another knock slightly louder, and this time she was positive it was on her door.
"Fee! Fie! Foe! F-idiot! I hear the knockings of an idiot," Ayame grumbled hurriedly, getting the last tangles out as she stormed over to open the door just enough to see the person outside. Who exactly was stupid enough to knock on her door, especially when she clearly remembered having left a red post-it on the door after tea with Sango and Kagome? Red equalled death if knocked on!
"Yes?" she demanded angrily at the man standing on the other side of the door.
"Hi. I was just wondering-" the handsome man began, but Ayame cut him off.
"Let me ask you a question," Ayame said. "Do you see the red post-it on the door?"
"Uhh, well yeah..." the man said, confused at her reaction.
"Now look on the legend on the wall, what does red symbolize?" Ayame asked, pointing at the 'Colour of Post-Its' legend, clearly visible in all its framed glory on the wall next to her door.
"Death," the man said after a moment of scrutiny. "Oh, that would explain why you're angry wouldn't it. You didn't want to be disturbed. Sorry I didn't know."
"Bingo," Ayame said dryly. "Looks like you only a half-wit. Shame, I was really hoping I could bite someone's head off."
"And you only do that to idiots?" the man grinned and Ayame, for the first time, noticed that he was very handsome. "What do you do to half-wits like myself then?"
'He's smooth,' Ayame thought suspiciously. 'A womanizer.'
"Now what exactly is it that you needed so desperately to ask me that you were willing to risk death at the hands of a sleep-deprived maniac?" Ayame asked, her temper starting to cool.
"Oh, I'm sorry!" the man exclaimed suddenly. "Were you sleeping?"
"You're lucky," Ayame smiled wryly. "I had already woken up a couple minutes prior to your knocking. If I hadn't you wouldn't be smiling right now."
The man winced, and then tried to peek past her into the room. "What are you hiding?"
"My room," Ayame said honestly. "I don't normally let absolute strangers see where I live."
"Paranoid, are we?" the man asked.
"Enough about me," Ayame said coldly, not liking the thought of her being paranoid or his curiosity to see her room. "What do you want?"
"I'm looking for a friend of mine who just moved in," the man said sensing her mistrust.
"Sango?" Ayame asked. She made a mental note to mention the fact strangers weren't supposed to enter the building, romantically involved of not.
"No," he said. "Girl named Kagome."
Suddenly Ayame's alert flags went up; this guy looked familiar and he was defiantly acting suspiciously. There was no doubt in her mind this man was one of Naraku's buddies here to try and kill Kagome. "Sorry there's no Kagome on this floor," she said, making sure she didn't portray one single emotion other than nonchalance. "Have you checked the other floors?"
"Yes," the man said, and Ayame, though not noticeable began to scan the man's body visually for any signs of weaponry. "They told me she was up on this floor."
"Well they told you wrong," Ayame said, very defensive of the girl she had been given the task of keeping safe. Luckily, her security cameras had this guy's footage; now she'd be able to track him and find out which group he was associated with. Sure he may just be another of Naraku's lackeys, but he might be able to provide some information they didn't already know. Thankfully, only her face was visible to him, so Ayame was able to grope behind her and grab a gun she always kept hidden by the door just in case.
Being unable to actually look at her gun did not stop Ayame from checking how many rounds she had left. It was full. Good.
"Actually," she said thoughtfully. "Now that I think about it there is a girl who was supposed to move in a while ago, she never showed though. No idea what happened to her though."
"She didn't show up?" said the man worriedly. Yep, he was defiantly a killer. Unknowingly, the man had let her see his gun when he unwittingly raised his hand to run his fingers through his long brown hair. "Are you positive?"
"Yeah," Ayame said, taking a deep breath as she readied the gun. And the next thing the guy knew Ayame had flung the door open to hit him square in the face as she launched herself at him. The pain distracted him long enough for Ayame to reach into his belt and throw his gun away.
One weapon down, but how many more did he have hidden?
"What the fuck!" the man exclaimed putting a hand to his nose to staunch the blood and attempting to rise. "Are you stu-"
"Freeze," Ayame said coldly. "Put your hands in the air or I shoot."
"Excuse me!" he exclaimed.
"I said hands in the air!" Ayame yelled silently swearing; of course fate would have it she was the only one here. Everyone else would be at work. How the hell was she supposed to handle this guy? If he was a good enough hit man, no amount of intelligence and strategy would be good enough to rival his sheer strength.
"Look, there's been some sort of mistake," the guy began again. But Ayame simply took another step forward, her gun clearly centered on his chest.
"Hands in the air," she repeated.
"Look, I don't know who you are," the man said his blue eyes flashing dangerously. "But I will hurt you if you don't step down."
"I wouldn't recommend it if I were you," Ayame said. "I have a gun that is fully loaded and I will not hesitate to shoot if you don't put your hands up."
The man settled into a fighting stance. "I normally try not to hurt women if I can help it, but I guess in this situation I have no choice."
The man launched himself at her, and as he did so Ayame steeled herself and let her mind go into battle mode. She easily evaded his first punch and let off a round of fire, one which grazed his bicep. He ignored the gunfire however and attacked again, this time with speed that immediately marked him as a demon; no human could run that fast.
(Author's note: Anyone have any guesses who this demon is yet? Wink wink)
Before she could fire again, however she suddenly found herself flying through the air, her gun knocked forcefully out of her hand at the same time she was kicked. Ayame's lithe form twisted like a cat and she managed to land on her feet where she was forced to block another kick. Then she attacked while her attacker was still left to wonder just how she had blocked his lightning fast moves. She managed to get in two punches and a roundhouse kick before he landed another of his frighteningly powerful kicks. This time however she was unable to twist from a sharp pain in her ribs and so she landed heavily on the floor, rolling a few times from the force before trying vainly to rise to her feet. Gasping with pain, she crumpled to the floor where her attacker immediately managed to straddle her chest, effectively preventing her from doing anything.
'Oh god,' Ayame thought closing her eyes, 'he's going to kill me.'
"I'm sorry, but I had to do that," the man said. "I hate hurting women but I need to know where Kagome is."
"I'd rather die than let you lay your filthy hands on her," Ayame snarled spitting in his face. Kagome may be Inuyasha's charge, but she had taken a liking to the girl and was prepared to defend her with all the ferocity of a mother bear protecting her cub.
"Look, I don't want to hurt you," the man growled. "Now tell me what you've done with her."
"Never," Ayame recoiled as the man shifted her auburn hair to reveal her pointed ears.
"I knew it! You're a demon too," her attacker said. "And a wolf one at that! You're too good to be just a regular cop, I knew it the second you landed those blows. That also explains your loyalty to the girl. I'm a wolf demon too, so please just trust me when I say I don't want to hurt her."
The man shifted his weight to get more comfortable and suddenly Ayame was seeing spots from the pain of his weight on her injured ribs. Tears leaked out of her eyes as she was left gasping from the pain. She struggled to remain conscious, blinking her eyes to clear the spots, but they refused to disappear. The man immediately leapt nimbly off her and helped her to sit up. "Are you ok?" he demanded. "What happened?"
Highly confused at his reaction, Ayame raised her emerald eyes to meet his sapphire ones. "Who exactly are you?"
"My name's Kouga," the man replied. "I'm Kagome's bodyguard."
"Kagome's bodyguard?" Ayame asked weakly.
"Yes," Kouga nodded, "I told Kagome I would be here at one o'clock but she's not here."
"Idiot," Ayame winced raising her hand to her chest. "Why didn't you say so sooner?"
"Well, I wasn't exactly planning on fighting you," Kouga said. "I figured you'd just tell me where she had gone and that would be that."
"Did you seriously expect me not to see through that load of bull?" Ayame said, suddenly raising Kouga's gun which he had stupidly not noticed was lying within arm's reach. All Kouga could see now, however, was the barrel of a gun.
"It's not bull," he said very slowly and began to reach into his pocket.
"Stop," Ayame commanded and Kouga instantly froze. He wasn't that stupid to try testing the woman who was holding a gun a mere two inches from his face.
"I swear I'm telling the truth."
"And I say you're lying," Ayame said, an eerie calm coming over her.
"You can check my wallet," Kouga said. "That's what I was just reaching for. In it you should find my certificate as a body guard and a picture of Kagome and me last year on her birthday."
Very slowly, Ayame reached into his pocket, grabbing the wallet and never once letting the gun barrel drop. "I've got your wallet but I'm not taking my eyes off you; if you really want me to look lie down on your stomach. Kouga meekly obliged and Ayame slowly managed to rise to her feet, clutching her battered ribs and sat down on his shoulders. Taking a moment to catch her breath, Ayame closed her eyes. Normally she wouldn't need to, but having your ribs pummelled to what surely had to be splinters had that effect on most people. Flipping the wallet open, sure enough, there was, as Kouga had promised, a photo of Kagome and him at a birthday. She moved on to other cards, a Visa, a driver's licence, a bank card and… a certificate guarantying he was a body guard.
'Wait a second,' Ayame thought, slowly pulling out an old and slightly faded student ID card. The school's crest had caught her eye mainly because it was the same one she had grown up seeing. Sure enough, looking at the graduation date it was the same as hers, or well the one she would have, had she actually graduated. She looked at the school photo and gasped. "KOUGA!" she exclaimed hopping off his back. "Kouga! I knew I recognized you!"
"Huh?" Kouga said, sitting up, and then the next thing he knew, Ayame had flung her arms around him.
"I'm so sorry I didn't believe you!" Ayame squealed. "I thought you were one of Naraku's henchmen! I can't believe I didn't recognise you sooner!"
"Excuse me!" Kouga exclaimed, startled by the change in regard to him. "Sorry," he stammered. "Do I know you?"
"Of course you do," Ayame said happily letting him go so he could see her clearly. "I'm Ayame, we were in school together for grades 7-10. do Don't you remember me?"
"Uhhhh…" Kouga said, unsure of what to say. "No sorry, I don't."
"Of course you wouldn't," Ayame said, smacking herself on the forehead. "I've totally changed since then. You. on the other hand, haven't. Your hair's a bit longer, well actually quite a bit longer, but other than that you're still Kouga!"
"Are you schizophrenic?" Kouga asked stupidly.
"Of course not," Ayame said. "I can't believe you didn't say anything earlier."
"I might have if you hadn't attacked me with a gun!" Kouga protested. "I honestly didn't expect to be attacked by a maniac!"
"For the last time," Ayame sighed. "I am not mentally unbalanced. What did you expect me to think when I see some stranger poking around for information on a young girl who is currently in hiding because she offended someone more powerful than the Godfather. Of course I would suspect you were one of Naraku's guys."
"You thought I was one of Naraku's guys," Kouga repeated blankly. "Who the hell's Naraku?"
"The person trying to kill Kagome," Ayame said raising an eyebrow. "You didn't know that's why she's in witness protection?"
"I didn't know the guy's name was Naraku," Kouga replied in self-defence.
"Oh, ok," Ayame said. "Now why don't you let me take care of that bullet wound I gave you? You're bleeding all over the place."
"Bullet wound?" Kouga echoed and looked down at his arm, where sure enough, blood could be seen staining the once brown shirt a shade of red. "You actually managed to shoot me!"
"Well, duh," Ayame said. "I am a cop, I don't carry around a gun I can't use."
"You really are a good fighter," Kouga said, clearly impressed and still looking at the wound in surprise.
"Why, thank you," Ayame beamed. Hearing praise from an old crush was defiantly something that made her day so much better. It was almost enough to help her ignore the stabbing pain she felt in her ribs.
"Yeah, I might take you up on that offer," Kouga replied, lifting the sleeve of the shirt up so that they could clearly see the wound. It wasn't too bad; it had just nicked the skin enough to draw blood.
"Come with me we'll go to the main bathroom where the first aid kit is," Ayame said, slowly getting onto her knees and then rising shakily to one foot and then the other. "Ok, I'm ready."
"You might want to go get dressed first," Kouga suggested averting his eyes, though the sight of Ayame in nothing but her underwear and a tank top was far from unpleasant.
"Why?" Ayame asked, looking down at her attire without shame. "Oh, I walk around like this all the time. If anyone was actually here they wouldn't care."
"You ok?" Kouga asked, eying her wobbling form uncertainly; she certainly didn't look good. She was a bit on the pale side as well.
"I'm fine," Ayame replied. "Come on." She began to walk down the hall towards the bathroom Kagome had recently come screaming out of. She made it to the door before the pain forced her to brace herself against the doorframe.
"No you definitely are not fine," Kouga said, catching her as her knees began to buckle.
"Shut up, I'm fine," Ayame said, clutching the door frame stronger and hauling herself back up. "Just a little tired is all."
"Don't lie," Kouga said, catching her as she fell again. Putting an arm under her armpits, he deftly plopped her up onto the counter. "Now tell me what's wrong, I'm trained in first aid; I can help."
"I somehow doubt you'll be able to treat a few busted ribs," Ayame joked. "Even I don't know that."
"Busted ribs?" Kouga asked and then groaned. "Oh God, did I do this?"
"Well kinda, yeah," Ayame admitted.
"Mind if I take a look?" Kouga asked.
"Uh just a little bit," Ayame replied putting a protective arm across her chest.
"You're wearing a bra right," Kouga said without blushing and Ayame nodded, blushing enough for both of them. "Then there's really nothing to see, bras are no different then bikinis. I never can understand why girls are so sensitive about being seen in bras when you can go parade out in public wearing things even less modest."
When Ayame said nothing, Kouga went on, "For someone who has no problem wandering around her floor in nothing but underwear and a tank top, you're a touch self-conscious."
"Fine," Ayame said, biting her lip and slowly lifting just enough of her shirt to let him see exactly what she knew would be there: a nice lovely large purple bruise.
"Ouch," Kouga winced sympathetically. "That's a really good one."
"I'm glad you think so," Ayame said dryly. "It's always nice to know an artist appreciates his work."
"I'm sorry," Kouga said, a small smile on his face. "I didn't mean to make fun of your pain. It pretty nasty hey? I bet it hurt like hell."
"It does," Ayame assured him. "Now how are you going to help me? What's wrong with them? Are they simply bruised? Or have I broken something?"
"I can't really tell," Kouga said, bending forward for a better look. "From the looks of it you've either broken a few or they might just be cracked."
"Oh man," Ayame groaned. "That means I have to go to the hospital!"
"You want me to drive you?" Kouga asked. "I think it's the least I could do, after being the one who hurt you."
"Thanks," Ayame said. "Can I put my shirt down now?"
"Not quite yet," Kouga said, reaching past her to the cabinet to pull out an ice pack. Breaking the inner pouch for her, Kouga shook the pack to get it started and then handed it to her. "Here's something for the swelling."
Ayame murmured her thanks as she took the pack and placed it gently on the most painful area.
"I can bandage my own wound its ok," Kouga said as she moved to help him when he pulled the bandages and gauze out. Effectively, he managed to bind the wound to stop the blood flow then turned to her to ask if she would simply tie it for him.
"You might want to go get changed if we're going to the hospital," Kouga grinned. "You may be ok walking around like that here, but I'm not sure all the parents would appreciate you scarring their innocent children's eyes with all that flesh."
"Good call," Ayame said, sliding off the counter. "You want to go start the car while I change?"
"Sure," Kouga said. "It'll be the green convertible waiting out front."
"Thanks," Ayame said. "I'll be quick."
"Take your time," Kouga replied, helping her to make it to her room. "I'm in no hurry."
Ayame thanked him again as she disappeared into her room, and by the time she emerged from her room, she was dressed in a pair of hip-hugging jeans that showed off her great curves and a simple button up blouse in a pretty shade of green. She had chosen the blouse because she figured that it would be easier for the doctors to examine her. She had applied a touch of make-up so she didn't look so much like a vampire, a touch of concealer for the bags under her eyes a bit of bronzer to not make her look so pale and a touch of gloss.
All she could think of as she walked out to meet Kouga was, 'thank heavens I brushed my teeth before my high school crush came calling.'
Author's Note: well I really enjoyed writing this chapter, everything came far more naturally because Ayame was modelled after me. So warning anyone who disses her, well technically you're dissing me too…. so yeah don't she's like me except for the part how she knows how to check the rounds on her gun…cuz I defiantly have no idea to do that looking at the thing let alone without being able to see it because I don't own a gun. I have however shot one before, scared me out of my wits when I did it but I've done it none-the-less. Hope you all enjoyed it, anyone know it was Kouga from the beginning or did I actually have you going there for a while that he was one of Naraku's men? I really tried not to give it away right away. But so anyways enough of my blabbering if you liked it please review.