Pouting, Satoru attempts to figure out how to cross paths with Kagome since their group outing a couple of night ago. Sure, she can easily deal with curses herself, he is curious about the extent in which she can and if the types of curse matters, but because of that fact, his work hasn't brought him anywhere near her. Though it does bring up another matter, how have the elders not notice her or her getting rid of curses?
His phone buzzing disrupts his thoughts, another job.
With a sigh, he calls Ijichi to come pick him up, wanting to use the time to think of a plan rather than just transport. He shoots a few texts to his students, snickering when Megumi tells him to stop texting so late, before finally putting the phone away. Drumming his fingers against his leg, he tries to relax as best he can, even with the seat pushed as far back as it can go. Sadly, there's not helping it.
And that's when he feels it. Perking up, he spots his, well, a job, and Kagome! Smiling, he exists the car when it pulls to a stop at a red light, waving off Ijichi's warning and complaints. "Take the rest of the night off!" closing the door behind him, he easily gets to the sidewalk and follows after the two women.
His smile grows as he watches the two. At first, he wondered if the park had been a one off, but no, Kagome is subtle in her interactions with the curse, brushing it off whenever it attempts to latch itself on the woman next to her. Not like she could openly deal with it, but he knows most people are blind to anything out of the ordinary, so why not just get rid of it right away?
Catching up, he leans down next to her, close enough to startle her in greeting. "Hello, Kagome-chan!"
Both women jump, but Kagome's hand that had been subtle thus far sparks a sudden flash of pink that causes the curse to wail out. "Gojo-san!" her other hand is pressed to her chest in surprise, blue eyes wide as she looks up at him.
"Please, Satoru." he smiles at the slight colouring of her cheeks. "Who's your friend?"
At this she slightly sobers up. "Ah, Gojo-" despite the blindfold, she seems to sense his expression. "Satoru-san, this is my co-worker, Meyumi-chan."
"Pleased to meet you, Meyumi-chan!" he offers a wave, not at all surprised at the lacklustre in her returned greeting. How long had the curse been with her before Kagome noticed? How much longer before the higher ups deemed it necessary that he step in?
"Oh, yeah, I guess." her face is pale, dark bruising under her eyes, hair limp and appearance otherwise rumpled.
"We were just on our way to lunch, if you'll-!" she squeaks when he clasps her free hand with his own, enjoying the way the fading blush grows once again.
Snickering, as it's only fair play since she can somehow bypass his infinity, he shakes his head. "Oh? That's great! I know this little place just around the corner, my treat! They have the best desserts." he uses his hold on her hand to tug her in the direction, which in turn causes her to tug her absent-minded co-worker to follow along as well.
He picks up on how Kagome's powers spark once again, causing the still attached curse to shriek while Meyumi flinches. It's dug in deep. A curse user must be at work. Just as he promised, a little further away a tucked away café sits. Already the air fills with the smell of coffee and baked sweets.
"You don't really need to do this, Go- ah, Satoru-san." Kagome wiggles her fingers in an attempt to slip his grasp, muffling another squeak when he quickly weaves his own with hers.
"Nonsense! After the previous dinner, how can I not repay you?" he ignores the fact of how she didn't pay that night. He opens the door, watching how Kagome has to encourage her co-worker into the establishment, slipping in after the two women as the door chimes behind him.
Once again taking the lead, he makes a show of looking at the menu before smiling at the young woman behind the counter. "I'll take one of everything from your dessert menu and a grande coffee with extra vanilla creamer, sugar, whipped cream and caramel drizzle." he snickers at the look on Kagome's face, even her co-worker does a double take at his order. "I'll also pay for their orders as well."
The clerk balks, stammering as she turned to Kagome and Meyumi. "Uh… um, and what can I get you?" the poor woman's voice trails off in a breathy pitch, almost begging for something, anything in the realm of a normal order.
"A uh, I'll take the uh, lunch sandwich and soup with a green tea. Th-thank you." Kagome can only blink as her eyes slowly drag along the menu, flickering as she attempts to take in the vastness of the dessert menu.
Meyumi lets out a tired sigh. "Just a coffee, thanks."
"That'll be… uh…" the clerk looks down at the moment. ", please have a seat, I'll get the bill after?"
Satoru raises the hand clasped in his own and pulls the two women along behind him, choosing a spot that offers him the best view while allowing them to be tucked away. All the while, the curse is hissing and growling as it attempts to once again dig deeper into Meyumi.
Kagome leans in closer to him, further bypassing his infinity, allowing him to breath in her scent which was subtle and sweet. Vanilla, cream, something citrusy. "Can you really eat all that?"
Leaning down, he smirks at her. "Worried? How sweet of you!"
Seeing her being flustered while attempting to scold him has him snickering. "Any normal person would be. Unless you're bringing some back for your students?" the option has him tipping his head slightly in thought, thinking it over as they have been doing well recently. "You're not serious. You're going to eat all that?!"
"Don't worry, I'm not going to lose my figure, if that's what you're worried about." he pats his stomach with a grin.
"Not lose you're… Seriously," she shakes her head, finally extracting herself from his hold when their drinks arrive. ", you're so weird."
His fingers flex, for some reason missing the feeling of her hand in his. "I'm not weird."
They both turn to Meyumi when she lets out a whimpering sigh, lower lip trembling as she stares at her coffee. She's slowly stirring in a single packet of sugar, seemingly hypnotized by the action. As for the curse, it's purring as it leans heavily against her.
Just then, the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, the curse hissing at them until all sounds are muffled behind a shimmering pink dome that separates him and Kagome from the rest of the world. He uses his coffee as a way to subtly tap at the barrier that has just been erected, no tools or techniques were used. Impressive.
"I can only guess, but you're here because of the, curse, attached to Meyumi-chan." while it does sound like a question, it's an obvious statement as Kagome looks up at him, calmly turning her cup of tea.
"Yeah. I'm guessing a curse user is behind the cause." his entire posture eases at the first sip of his coffee, enjoying the sweet concoction.
"Curse user? An individual that causes harm with curse energy I assume?" Kagome finally takes a sip of her tea, the herbal scent sadly overpowers her own, at least in his opinion.
"Yeah. Anything significant happen in her life recently?" the question has Kagome blinking.
Her cup barely makes a sound when she puts it back on the table. Before she answers, she makes a show of smiling brightly with a nod of her head when the first of their food arrives, eying the first of the desserts that hide her soup and sandwich. "Not to sure on the details, but it does involve another co-worker. Either she turned him down, or the guy she likes was with someone else. You interrupted before I could learn the exacts."
Sipping at his coffee, he turns to look at the curse, examining it. It didn't look like the one from the park a near week ago, this one had a more feminine appearance, though it was still twisted into something disgusting and deadly. "My guess, the guy in question was 'stolen' by another woman, and said woman went to a curse user to further punish your co-worker."
Blue eyes narrowed on the curse, knuckles turning white in the face of Kagome's anger. Despite the barrier, the curse sensed the ire directed towards it and let out a rattling hiss that had Meyumi trembling. "That explains the two auras I picked up on."
Perking up, Satoru turned towards her. "Oh? Auras?" he was more than eager to learn all he could.
Nodding her head, Kagome easily moved his order aside to get her soup and sandwich. "I thought it was weird, then again, never really dealt with this sort of curses this intimately." pulling the two dishes out of the mountain of sweets, she then eyed her wilting co-worker. "But, if I do it just right, I can get a read on the distinctive auras that'll lead us to the ones responsible."
He's practically vibrating with excitement, watching her like a hawk from behind his blindfold as she nibbles on half of the sandwich. "You can do that?"
This time, she's the one tossing him a confident smile, blue eyes sparkling as she teases him by leaning in closer. Shippo must have taught her a thing or two. "Of course I can. Can't you?"
Leaning until his nose was just barely touching her own, he smiled when her blush returned by happy she didn't back down. "Don't you worry, I can do plenty. Tracking curse users is easy. The fact that you can do the same, and the one that paid the curse user is exciting." brows waggle until she finally pulls away.
A small scoff, she turns her attention back to her co-worker. "So, do you want to handle this, sorcerer, or shall I?"
As much as he wouldn't mind showing off, he's honestly more intrigued by what she can do. "How about I assist?"
"Perfect. Attempting to get a proper read of the auras while it's fighting me isn't helping Meyumi-chan." she takes another bite of her sandwich, the barrier dropping without a flutter.
Helping Kagome is easy enough, restraining the curse and slowly extracting it from the other woman takes no effort. In fact, he's already gone through a third of his order by the time Kagome nods her head. Waving a hand as if he were swatting a fly, the curse is dealt with as neatly as possible. Though there is a bit of a mess, not that anyone else but he and Kagome can see.
"Impressive." the whispered compliment has him preening, though it is short-lived. "Albeit messy."
As for Meyumi, she still appears tired, but her posture does ease and relax as her whimpering stops and a bit of colour returns to her pale complexion. Kagome nudges him after finishing her tea, indicating she wants to leave the booth.
He obliges, curious as to what she's planning, blinking when she immediately sits next to Meyumi, pale glowing hands turning whatever mess that he left behind to ash that is much more easily swept away. A lingering hand also seems to help Meyumi, seeming to give an energy boost as her entire form takes on a faint glow before it seeps into her. The rest of the sandwich and soup are then offered to her.
"Thank you, Kagome-chan. You really are too kind." there are a few sniffles as she offers a watery smile.
"Not a problem. If you'll excuse me, I need to use the restroom." with a finally friendly pat, Kagome does just that.
Meyumi bashfully begins on the sandwich, shyly eyeing him with a pale blush. After a few moments, a fire burns in her eyes. "If you hurt her, you'll regret it."
"Huh?" he had taken to observing the streets when Meyumi spoke up.
"You're lucky, you know that. Almost all the men at work have asked her out, and she's turned down each and every one of them." Meyumi leans in close, eyes narrowing in what could be considered a warning. "So I repeat, if you hurt her, I'll make sure you regret it."
It's amazing at just how those around Kagome are so protective of her. "No worries!" before anything more can be said, Kagome returns. As she approaches, she appears to be wondering which side of the table to sit at, Satoru decides for her, grasping her hand and pulling her next to him. "Did you want anything else? My treat."
She rolls her eyes, adjusts herself, so she's not plastered against him. "I think you've ordered more than plenty to feed a small army." with that, she selects a few of his deserts, snickering at his low whine. "Oh hush, not like missing one or two will kill you."
An amused giggle from Meyumi earn their attention. "Sorry, it's just, you two are oddly adorable together."
Any attempt to deny from Kagome are thwarted when Satoru throws an arm around Kagome's shoulders and drags her into his side. "Aww, then does that mean we have your approval?"
Eyes still tired, but showing more life than five minutes ago stare at them before settling on him. "Sure, but I'm not the one you need to be asking." the cryptic words have Kagome groaning lowly, face buried in her hands.
As for Satoru, he can only chuckle.
AN: Sorry for taking so long to update, was sick and then I got... well not promoted but a step in that direction? But it comes with a new work schedule that I'm still getting used to, let's just say.
Anyways, please read, enjoy and review!
- BunnyWK