My nose twitches in irritation at a particularly strong smell down the hallway, coming closer. I send a silent prayer to the gods that it is not an unscheduled appointment and just someone passing by. As the smell draws closer, I feel my eyes narrow in irritation, This is exactly why I ensured there was a company policy regarding perfumes and such. My prayers are unanswered, however, as the door to my office opens and the nearly overwhelming scent of rose takes over my office. I look up from my paperwork, glare already in place, and sneer at the woman standing in the open doorway.
"Kagura." She smirks, closing the door behind her. "Come to enact more of Naraku's dirty work?" Her lips twitch at her employer's name, a glint of hatred flashing across her red eyes before she regains her composure.
"I'm here off-hours, actually," she admits, taking slow steps towards my desk. I raise an eyebrow, unsure of what her angle is. "I gotta say, I was impressed when I'd heard what you'd done." She leans against the corner of the desk, closest to me. Closer, her perfume succeeds in overwhelming my senses and it's everything I can do not to visibly wrinkle my nose in disgust. "No one's ever done that before." Her hand glides across the tabletop, grazing my own before I remove my hands, folding them in my lap.
"What is it that you require, wind witch?" I watch as her eyes widen at my assessment. "Do not be so surprised, this one can usually smell it on you." My jaw clenches as the scent burns the inside of my nose, causing physical pain. "Make your request quickly and remove yourself from my office." Her smirk returns as she sits on the edge of the desk, her skirt rising up her leg indecently.
"Very well then," she purrs, holding my gaze as she draws her hand slowly up to the buttons on her shirt. "As you wish, my lord." Before I am able to say anything to stop her actions, the top three buttons of her shirt are already undone, revealing something very lacy underneath. At that very moment, the door to my office opens, making her jump and turn around to face whoever had decided to let themselves in. I groan inwardly, already knowing how bad this looks and not looking forward to explaining it away, only to have it become office gossip tomorrow, but, when I manage to drag my gaze upward, I am not met with the surprised face of an employee. Standing in my doorway is a positively mortified Kagome, eyes wide, mouth agape, hand still on the door handle, holding my jacket from Friday. Realisation dawns as I glare at Kagura, who has made no move to cover herself.
"O-oh, my god, I, I-I am so sorry," Kagome stammers, recovering from her shock as she casts her gaze to the floor. "Jaken said you were still at work so I just thought I'd, I didn't think you'd be, or that you'd have, I am so sorry!" She moves to cover her eyes, remembering my jacket on her arm. "I just wanted to give this back," she explains, draping it over the chair opposite mine, when she turns embarrassed eyes on Kagura. "Not that anything happened! This doesn't mean anything, he was just, we were at Disney and I was cold, and -"
"Kagome," I interrupt, trying to break her train of thought from where I can only imagine it's going, but she's already backing out of the room.
"So sorry for interrupting, just, um, carry on!" She yells, slamming the door behind her. I hear her quick footsteps hurrying towards the elevator and narrow my eyes at Kagura. When she turns to face me, her smirk quickly falls as fear enters her eyes at the intensity of my glare as my vision tinges red.
"So. That was your plan, was it?" I ask, rising to my full height. I hear her swallow as she finally pulls her shirt together.
"Well, it wasn't my plan, but…" she trails off, but I do not need her to finish her sentence to know what she was going to say.
"He believes this will force Kagome to do poorly or withdraw from the competition." She nods, silently. "Get out." She scrambles off of the desk, gathering her things and hurrying towards the door. "And tell your employer that Ms. Higurashi is much more determined than to let a minor misunderstanding get in her way. The next time he wishes to play mind games, send him to me directly." With a shaky nod, she too exits my office. With a heavy sigh, I pull out my phone and try to call Kagome, only to be sent to voicemail. Shaking my head, and knowing I will not be getting anything else done, I pack up my things and begin the drive home, resolved to explain everything tomorrow at practice.
When I arrive the next evening, coffee in hand, she is understandably nervous. I can hear her pacing even before I reach the door to her studio, mumbling under her breath. Suppressing a sigh, I open the door to find her back to me. She doesn't turn around as she calls out a greeting from her laptop at the front of the room. I set her caramel concoction down on the floor beside her before leaning against the mirror next to her. She glances at the cup but makes no move to grab it, instead seeming fixated on her camera's tripod. After several seconds of uncharacteristic silence on her part, I shake my head.
"Go on." She jumps at the sudden sound in the silence but does not look up at me. "Whatever it is you have been debating whether or not to say, I for one would like to move passed this as soon as possible." I notice her bite her lip before standing up, eyes on the floor.
"I am really sorry about barging in on you and Kagura yesterday, I had no idea she would be there and I just wanted to return your jacket since I didn't know if you would need it and maybe see if you wanted to get dinner but then I saw you with her and remembered what you said and, while I don't really get it, she is extremely beautiful and has an eye for business and I can totally see why you would go for someone like that, and while I haven't seen her personality outside of our business arrangement, I'm sure she's a lovely woman if she was able to earn your respect enough for you to deem her worthy to date -"
"Kagome," I interrupt when she pauses for a breath.
"And I'm really happy for you two, and that you were able to tell her how you feel despite your uncertainty, that's really brave of you, not that I didn't think you were brave before! Of course you are, extremely, it just takes a lot to put yourself out there like that -"
"Kagome," I try again, a little more forcefully, to no avail.
"Clearly it worked out though, I mean, she showed up to your office like that, not that there's anything wrong with that! Some people think it's really daring and adds to the, um, act, so she's a lot less proper than I thought she would be, which, kudos to her, I don't think I could ever -"
"Kagome." This time, she silences at the sternness in my tone, jumping slightly as her wide eyes rise to my own of their own accord before she averts her gaze once more. "This one has no interest in that woman." Her head whips up to meet my eyes, her confusion evident in her expression.
"Wait, what?" I breathe out a chuckle, taking a sip from my tea. "Then… what was she doing there? In her…" I raise an eyebrow in question, smirking when she gestures to her own chest, her cheeks nearly set ablaze in her discomfort.
"It would appear that she was sent as a ploy to discourage you from entering the contest, or to at the very least throw you off your game." Her jaw drops and her brows lower at the same time as her expression twists into one of intense anger.
"That snake," she hisses, glaring out the door as though the demon in question were waiting outside. "I can't believe he would stoop so low as to try to sabotage me! I mean, I know he's messed up and is a stickler for rent and has a history of foreign people from his properties, regardless of their leases, but to do this!" She groans in frustration, picking up her drink, and quickly draining it of half its contents, glaring all the while. After several minutes, and one grande drink later, she glances up at me from under her lashes, an almost sheepish expression on her face. "I'm sorry for jumping to conclusions." I smirk, shrugging one shoulder.
"This one is aware of how compromising the situation appeared." She smiles a little at my admission, tucking a piece of hair that had fallen from her bun behind her ear. "However, I do wish that you believed I have higher standards than a woman like Kagura could aspire to." She laughs, the last of the tension leaving her body.
"Well, can you blame me? You haven't told me anything about this mystery woman," she counters, a light blush tinging her cheeks again. "I don't even know what you would consider worthy of your time." The air in the room regaining its normality between us, she returns to setting up her camera. I debate telling her then and there exactly who it is that had managed to capture my affections, but, upon considering the events that had led to this situation, decide against it. It would not hurt to begin planting the seeds I suppose.
"She is good with children," I begin, noticing her turn slightly towards me in interest, though not looking directly at me. "Possesses a kind heart, a good soul. She is far more intelligent than she realises." I glance down to find a smile taking hold of her lips and feel the corners of my own twitching upwards. "She is the first person to offer her assistance in any situation in which she feels she would be able. Selfless to a fault." She giggles a little at this, only serving to force a smile from me, just a little one. "She lights up a room when she enters it. She has managed to change my thoughts and opinions on a number of subjects without ever intending to, though I cannot bring myself to mind. She is someone I never believed myself to be compatible with, and yet, I cannot bring myself to imagine a life without her in it." Taking another sip of tea, I glance down to find her staring up at me with wide eyes. Noticing she has been caught, she quickly shakes her head and offers a wide smile.
"She sounds perfect. I'm really happy you found her," she admits, genuinely, though with the slightest tinge of sadness to her tone. She truly has no clue, I realise. "Think she'd be interested in coming to the competition? Could be a good place to tell her. Then you could invite her to InuYasha's wedding." I smirk again, nodding my head once.
"I do believe she is already planning on being in attendance." Finally setting up her camera, Kagome hops up from the floor, wobbling slightly from standing too fast. I reach out, gripping her elbows to steady her, and she smiles gratefully.
"Well then, you better tell her then, someone that good can't stay on the market too long I'd imagine." She winks up at me before taking several steps back, clapping her hands together a little too loudly. "Okay! So, samba."
Hello everyone! I apologise for the lateness of this chapter, it's still a little hectic around the house and I'm having some trouble getting my rhythm back after everything. We are fast approaching the end of the story and I wanted to get your honest opinions on how the last chapters are written. Do you like the dance scenes as they're written? If so, or not, would you prefer I do that or something similar for the dances in their competition &/or the wedding? Or would you rather I only do one or two important ones, like maybe the first and last, and focus more on their results or crowd reactions? What would be more interesting for you to read? Personally, I would be happy with either or, I'm completely prepared to do both and have found a few videos where I can for those that like to visually see what I'm attempting to describe as someone who only has very basic ballroom training? If you wouldn't mind either leaving a review or direct messaging me if you're more comfortable with that just letting me know what your preferences are as far as that goes, I would greatly appreciate it as I want everyone to enjoy this as much as they can from start to finish. I hope you have all had a wonderful week (2 weeks?) and are staying happy and healthy, and I look forward to seeing you all next week!