Chapter 3
He was unimpressed. "I'm sure you don't. That's hardly the point."
Kagome tried to put the corrosive humiliation out of her mind and concentrate on her anger. "The point is I want to leave house."
His mouth slanted. "No, you don't," he said softly.
She drew a sharp, indignant breath. "Yes, I do. Now"
"Then who's stopping you?"
Kagome had no answer.
He unwound himself from the desk and strolled over to her. The sense of his physical power beat at her like a flame. Kagome stood her ground but it was an act of will to do so. She tilted her face up to his defiantly.
"Don't think you can bully. I---"
He silenced her by the simple expedient of putting his thumb on her lower lip. Kagome gasped, choked and fell silent.
Recovering, she swatted his hand away blindly. He caught her wrist.
"No, you don't want to go at all, my charming burglar." He was amused. (Ace: This is the last time I'm telling you guys he's MAJOR OOC, but I like him sometimes being really nice, cuz I already see his stoic side on the real anime, so ya. I like it when authors make him nice sometimes, and SESSHOUMARU is the ONE FALLING IN LOVE with KAGOME.)
He looked down at her, his eyes darkening.
"Anymore than I want you to."
Less amused, that. In fact there was a feeling Kagome recognized roughening the smooth voice. Recognized because she felt it herself. For the first time in her life. Hunger.
She did not know what was happening to her but she was not going to give into it. She was not.
She said, "Touch me again and I'll be the one calling the police."
He did not back off, but the warmth died out of his eyes, leaving them cold and oddly hard.
"Ah. A militant."
Kagome bristled. "No. But I know how to take care of myself."
"I can see you do," he said courteously.
There was something about the way he said it that made Kagome uneasy. But before she had time to think, he had taken hold of her and dragged her against him. Her head fell back at an impossible angle. He smiled down into her angry eyes.
"Then I needn't have any scruples, need I?" he said quite gently.
She found it difficult to breathe. "Let me go." Her words cracked.
He shook his head. "Oh, I don't think so. If you can take care of yourself, I really don't need to, do I?"
His eyes, Kagome discovered, had gone quite dark, that it actually looked quite black. In spite of that she had the impression they were molten with fury.
He did not kiss her. Instead, to her dismay, he began to brush the underside of her breast with slow, tantalizing strokes. The elderly t-shirt was no protection at all. She could feel the warmth and texture of his finger as if she were naked. It was hypnotic. If she'd closed her eyes, she could have felt the beating of his blood in his fingertips.
Don't close your eyes, Kagome told herself fiercely, Don't close your eyes.
But it was something like agony not to. Throat arched, she trembled. His gaze was dispassionate. Kagome hate him. But there was nothing she could do to drag herself away from that wickedly clever caress.
What was happening to her? Heaven knows, she was neither a fool nor an innocent. And these last weeks she'd had more practice than she had ever wanted at shaking off unwanted attentions. So why on earth did she not just stop this whole think dead in its tracks? She felt the questions whirling around in her head. She could not answer any of them.
Instead she stood there, shivering at his practiced, indifferent touch.
His hand stilled. He leaned forward until she could feel his breath on her lips. Kagome could not help herself. Her whole body contracted in shocking anticipation.
The worst thing about this situation was that he knew exactly what he was doing to her. Of course he knew. She must have made some sound. Or maybe the signs were more subtle and he only saw them because he was expecting them. It would be deeply shaming thought when she was back in control oh herself again.
But for now Kagome was not thinking. Not at the moment. Not when his hands, suddenly clumsy, were bunching up the t-shirt, pushing it out of the way so he could touch her bare flesh. At last, at last, he cupped her breast.
This time Kagome heard the noise she made. Her arms closed round him as if they had a will of their own. She gave up the struggle. Her eyes drifted shit. Exquisite sensations plucked at her.
She trembled, clinging to him, kissing his as avidly as he was kissing her.
He made no attempt to disguise hi arousal. He folded her into his body as if he could bear a millimeter of space between them. Was it her imagination, or was he trembling too?
They stood together swaying, hot mouths locked.
And the door opened.
"Good God," said a masculine voice blankly.
Kagome's eyes flew open. Over her assailant's shoulder, she met the horrified gaze of a rumpled-looking man. She gave a squeak of pure embarrassment and tried to haul herself out of the enfolding arms.
In vain. She was too slight and she was off balance. Moreover, her antagonist was paying no attention to her efforts to attract his attention.
The intruder looked appalled. "I'm sorry," he muttered. "I'll---um---"
Kagome wedged her forearm between their bodies and pushed. Hard. They broke apart.
"What?---"began the enemy impatiently.
Kagome's cheeks were flying scarlet banners. She wrenched her t-shirt into place and gestured wordlessly. He looked round.
The rumpled man was backing out of the door and looked almost as embarrassed as Kagome. Only the hateful cause of it all stayed calm. He even looked amused.
"Totosai." He regained his cool so fast, Kagome wondered if she had imagined his reaction. He did not look at her. "I didn't hear you. Come in."
If she'd had a key---or even a stepladder---she would have gone then. But, as he had so triumphantly pointed out she had not way of getting back to her own side of the wall without help.
"No, no." The man called Totosai was plainly horrified. "I didn't mean to interrupt." He heard what he said and blushed even more deeply. "I mean, I didn't know you'd arrived."
"I was in the garden. Until out next-door neighbor---" he indicated her with a casual wave "---took the opportunity to drop in."
So he decided to stop pretending that she was a burglar. Kagome should have been relieved. Instead she found she was seething.
"I see," said Totosai, who plainly didn't
By dint of concentrating on how much she loathed that superior drawl, Kagome managed to bring her color under control. In fact, she would take the wind out of his sails well and truly, she thought. She stepped forward, hand held out.
"Kagome Higurashi. How do you do?" she said briskly.
Totosai took her hand with the air of a man in a daze.
"Er---hello."
The hateful man looked amused. "Totosai Shitai," he introduced solemnly.
Totosai Shitai looked a solid citizen. Certainly not the sort of man to be in partnership with an opportunistic criminal. For a moment she even wondered whether he cold be the noise-hating millionaire.
But she dismissed the idea almost at once. Totosai Shitai was too young to be so cranky. (Ace: Totosai is 43 here, but he looks younger...I know VERY HARD to imagine, but oh well...he's 8 years older than Sesshy...I think... --). And anyway, her antagonist did not treat him with enough respect. They must be employees of the millionaire after all. (Ace: That's what she thinks anyway.)
Kagome shook Totosai's hand with resolution and stepped back. She deliberately avoided looking at the other man. She could feel his amusement and it was doing nothing for her temper or her poise.
"Well, I must be getting along," she said brightly. "If anyone of you will give me a leg-up back over the wall...?" she suggested with a great air of casualness.
Totosai gulped. "The wall?"
"When I said she dropped in, I meant in literally." The man sounded solemn but his shoulder shook.
Totosai looked from one to the other, not sure if it was a joke. "Oh."
"If you have a ladder?" pressed Kagome.
"Oh, no need for a ladder. The wall is not that high."
Kagome glared. "I'd prefer a ladder."
The man laughed aloud. Totosai Shitai looked flustered.
"I'll get one---if you'd give the lady a drink, Totosai."
He went. Totosai looked round the big room helplessly.
"I'm afraid---er---I only got in from Santiago yesterday evening. I'm not firing on all cylinders yet, Miss---er---what was it Taisho say?"
"He didn't," said Kagome, with bite. "I did. Higurashi. And I don't want a drink, thank you. I've got a pot of tea waiting for me on the other side of the wall."
Totosai relaxed visibly. "You really do live next door?" He sounded as if it was almost impossible to believe.
Kagome was amused in spite of herself. "I really do live next door," she agreed gravely. "Or at least I'm going to. This is my first day"
He whistled. "And you celebrate by coming over the wall? Awkward." But, unlike his friend, he did not seem to think it was a deliberate invasion.
Kagome was so grateful that she gave him her first unshadowed smile.
"You can say that again."
"Er---why?"
"There was a lilac tree with a dodgy branch." She looked out onto the brilliant lawn, gleaming under the sun, and sighed. "In fact I bet there are a lot of dodgy branches, one way and another. And I'm supposed to be looking after the garden. It's all tangles and weeds, not like this."
"You'll have to ask Taisho for advice," he said.
So that settled it. Staff after all. Security man-cum-gardener. Some people---Sango, for example---would he was the ideal man to have next door if you had responsibility for an overgrown garden and your first foray into pruning had resulted in disaster. Especially if you could not tell a flower from a weed without recourse to a book.
Kagome resolved to return to the library that very afternoon.
"Oh, I'm not going to do much in the garden," she disclaimed hastily. "Just weed and prune a bit."
"It sounds like as if you already have," said Totosai with a grin. "I take it the lilac tree is now light by one branch?"
Kagome chuckled. "You could put it that way. It was being chewed by the dog the last time I looked."
"Well, you'll have to get Taisho to help you tidy it up," Totosai said comfortably.
"Maybe," She did not say she would have died first. In fact she was rather proud of her non-committal tone. "Actually, I think it looks quite romantic as it is."
Totosai came over and propped himself against the French door. Together they contemplated the perfect garden.
"Taisho's certainly not the romantic type," he agreed wryly. "He likes things tidy."
Kagome sent the neat lawn a look of dislike. "This looks like a municipal park than a private garden," said Kagome with disapproval.
"But a very well-kept park," said a voice behind them acidly.
Kagome whipped round, stiffening. How long had he been there, listening to her? What had she said?
She tried to review what she said to Totosai Shitai so unguardedly. But her nerves were quivering again and she could not get her thoughts into any sort of order.
He had brought a long extending ladder with him. From it pristine appearance it was not used very often. Or else it was part of his job to keep the ladder in the same state of polished perfection as the garden. Kagome allowed her lip to curl.
He saw, as she had intended he should. His eyebrows rose. A distinct glean came into the gold eyes.
"I'll see the lady home, Totosai," he said firmly.
Which left Totosai with nothing to do but mutter a flustered farewell and watch as they went down the garden.
"I see you boss everyone around. Not just unfortunates who get stranded," Kagome said chattily.
His long stride had her trotting to keep up with him as he made his way back to the lilac tree. It did nothing for her dignity or her temper.
He looked down at her.
"Everyone," he agreed. "I'm known for it."
It was her turn to raise her eyebrows. "Really? I didn't know gardeners were such tyrants." (Ace: Hilarious how she thinks HE is a GARDENER...ya right like I'll make him that --. It'd be too shameful for him. LOL)
Just for a moment his face went perfectly blank. Then he gave a soft laugh. "I guess anyone can be a tyrant given the right circumstances."
"And I gave you the right circumstances?"
His eyes skimmed her breast. "You certainly did," he agreed, amused.
She flinched. But fortunately she was too angry to be embarrassed or worse. In fact, if he had not been going to help her back over the wall, Kagome would have hit him.
As it was, she counted to ten and then asked sweetly, "And how does Totosai get to be bullied?"
That did not discompose him either. He shook his head at her reproachfully.
"I wasn't bullying Totosai. I was giving him an exit route. He's an old-fashioned type. You embarrassed the hell out of him."
This time Kagome forgot to count to ten. "I embarrassed him?" she gasped in outrage. "Oh, you're impossible."
They had reached the lilac tree. He stopped and propped the ladder against the wall.
"And you," he said coolly, "are very ungrateful."
The gold eyes gleamed. Kagome thought, He's going to kiss me again.
She shot up the ladder so fast that she pulled the top of it slightly away from the wall. Behind her he flung himself against the ladder and held it firm, even as she gasped in alarm.
"Steady," he said, a laugh in his voice.
She scrambled onto the top of the wall.
"Thank you," she said. She might be out of breath and balancing precariously on a wall one brick thick, but Kagome did her best to sound crushing.
The man she had come to think of as the enemy was predictably, not at all crushed. He even leaned against the ladder and looked up at her. His expression, she thought, was one much like a zoologist might use to look at a rare species of monkey.
"It's been a blast," he said cordially.
Kagome was hot with indignation. "It's been---"
He raised an enquiring eyebrow. She bit off what she had been going to say. Losing your temper only gave men like this one an advantage.
"Thank you for your help," she said, in a tone to freeze and erupting volcano.
It had no visible effect.
"I look forward to next time," he said.
Kagome lost her cool sufficiently to give a gigantic snort. He began to laugh. She gave him one disgusted look and launched herself into the lilac tree. Even if she crashed straight to the ground, it would be better than facing his mockery one moment longer.
She could still hear him laughing as she marched into the house.
Sesshoumaru lost his smile the moment Kagome disappeared over the wall. He hoisted the ladder under his arm and took it back to the garage with the precision of extreme annoyance. When he let himself into the kitchen through the communicating door, Totosai was brewing coffee and rifling through his refrigerator. Without much success, as he pointed out.
"Where's Menielle Bates?" said Sesshoumaru, furiously. He did not apologize for the lack of provisions. "Just ask her."
Totosai sent him a curious look. "She and Bates have gone. They said you knew about it."
Sesshoumaru ground his teeth. "Oh, damn. I forgot. They're off for a few days with his brother." He found a new cause for annoyance. "Why didn't Mrs. Bate remind me this morning?"
"I gather you were pretty occupied this morning," Totosai said maliciously.
Sesshoumaru curbed his temper. "Have you come back from you God-forsaken jungle to spy on me?" he demanded, wounded.
"Well, at least there would be something to spy on for once," Totosai remarked. He chuckled. "Silicone Woman for breakfast, according to Mrs. Bates. Orphan Annie from next door for lunch. And I saw that one with my own eyes. What's happened, Taisho? I thought you were a woman-hater."
"My luck must have changed," Sesshoumaru said dryly. "Why don't you try the freezer? Mrs. Bates leaves me things I'm suppose to microwave."
Totosai closed the fridge and grinned, "Now I know I'm back. Microwave. Wonderful."
He pulled open the freezer door and began to fun his finger down Mrs. Bates' neat list of contents. He moaned with pleasure. Sesshoumaru watched him with amusement, anger evaporating.
"I thought doctors disapproved of fast food."
Totosai looked over his shoulder. "Listen," he said with fervor, "for the last year I've lived on beans, beans and more beans. Sometimes a dash of goat. I've had natural food up to my eyebrows." He unwrapped a foil dish and put it reverently into the microwave. "Ah, civilization. If I ever try to go into the jungle again, have me kidnapped," he said.
Sesshoumaru laughed. Totosai programmed the machine and leaned against the countertop.
"So," he said, considering his friend. "How've you been?"
Sesshoumaru shrugged. "Getting richer all the time." He sounded weary.
Totosai was unimpressed. "I can take some of that off you. Santa Teresa could do with an operating theatre."
The air of disillusion dropped from Sesshoumaru like a used tea towel. His eyes gleamed. "Opportunist."
"Filthy capitalist," retorted Totosai without rancor. "Still, I suppose you can't blame a man with your responsibilities."
Sesshoumaru raised his eyebrows. All of a sudden the expression in the gold eyes was not kind. "Are you talking about my employees or my alimony?" The irony bit.
Totosai winced, "Well, I was thinking of the Takari Institute, to be honest. But, since you mentioned it, how is Ceila?"
The sarcasm faded. "Fighting fit," said Sesshoumaru dryly.
"Still?" Totosai did not bother to hide his astonishment. "But you must have been apart longer than you were married." He thought about it. "By a fair margin."
"Three times as long," said Sesshoumaru, the meticulous researcher.
Totosai calculated rapidly. "Well, you married a month after my thirty-first birthday. And broke up when I was in Borneo. Which much have been four, five years later?"
"Four year, two months and ten days," said Sesshoumaru. "The decree was made absolute twelve years ago." Meticulous but bored.
Totosai pursed his lips in a silent whistle. "Twelve years. Time gets away from you doesn't it?"
"If you let it."
"Are you saying you don't After twelve years and still unmarried?"
"For some experiments," Sesshoumaru said firmly, "once is enough."
Totosai did not comment on that one either. He had been best man at the wedding. None of Sesshoumaru's friends had been surprised when the marriage finally broke up. Totosai was too tactful to say so.
Instead he said carefully, "Ceila still comes around though?"
"She protects her interests." Sesshoumaru was dry. "We get together once a year.
Totosai disapproved, and did not attempt to disguise it. Sesshoumaru chuckled.
"No need to look like that. On my lawyer's advice."
Totosai's disapproval moderated somewhat, but he was still suspicious. "Why, for heaven's sake?"
Sesshoumaru shrugged. "She's a shareholder in Takari's. Don't was her selling her stock out of pique. Dinner once a year keeps her sweet. Or it has done up to now," he added, frowning.
Totosai was not interested in his friend's ex-wife. "So who's the playmate of the moment? Silicone Woman? Or pretty neighbor?"
At once Sesshoumaru's eyebrows twitched together in an angry frown. He looked thoroughly put out.
"The "pretty neighbor" looks like she's becoming an unmitigated nuisance," he said with feeling.
"Oh, yeah?" Totosai was amused. "It looked like it."
Sesshoumaru was irritated. "Don't let you imagination run away with you. I'd never met the girl until today."
"Wow," said Totosai. "Fast work."
To his surprised, Sesshoumaru flushed slightly. "Watch that imagination," he said warningly.
Totosai made a mocking face. "What did I say? You're over twenty-one and unattached. Enjoy!"
In spite of himself, Sesshoumaru's lips twitched. "Thank you," he said gravely. "However, I don't enjoy reckless school-girls."
It was on the tip of Totosai's tongue to point out that the scene he had witnessed earlier indicated the reverse. But there was a dangerous look to Sesshoumaru.
Instead he said wistfully, "She looked quite toothsome to me."
Sesshoumaru's reaction was robust. "You've spent too long in the jungle. Anyone would look toothsome to you." He added unkindly, "Even an adolescent with twigs in her hair."
Totosai was indignant. "Adolescent? She was old enough to turn you on."
"She did not," said Sesshoumaru in his most precise voice, "turn me on. His precision slipped. "If you want to know, she made me furious."
Totosai chuckled. "Nothing wrong with my eyesight Taisho, my lad. He gave him a matey buffet to the shoulder. "A good think if you've stopped living like a monk."
Sesshoumaru considered him with weary patience. "I see your subtlety hasn't increased," he remarked.
Totosai grinned, unabashed. "Why look a gift horse in the mouth? The new neighbor is a definite addition to the local amenities."
"That," said Sesshoumaru grimly, "is a matter of opinion."
Kagome did not think it was a matter of opinion. Kagome had no doubts. The man next door was detestable. And dangerous.
She stalked back into the house, muttering. How dared he?
She was not proud of herself. But did not excuse his behavior one bit. His kisses had set her every nerve on fire. And, what was worse, he had been all too aware of it. And then he laughed.
She ground her teeth. He could have done any damned thing he wanted with me, she thought. And he knew it. He as good as said so.
Remembering, Kagome shivered. Only once before had she had let sexual excitement overtake her. And what a disaster that had been.
She had been eighteen then, but she had never forgotten it. Hiten had been twenty. He had claimed to love her. But in the end---Kagome shut her eyes. The look on his face was still vivid in her memory. He had tried not to recoil but the damage had been done. She had seen his horror.
She'd promised herself then she was never found to make another man struggle to hide his instinctive revulsion. For six years, every time she was attracted to someone, she had remembered. And when she remembered she was not even tempted.
Her mother thought she was dedicated to her art and was pleased. Her father said acidly he was glad to see that she was intending to earn her own living instead of marrying a ticket meal. So no one asked her why the only men in her life were friends. Enemies sneered. Friends like Sango remonstrated. Some of it hurt. But none of it affected Kagome's determination in the slightest.
And yet today she had come close to abandoning her self-imposed celibacy. Without thought. For a man she had only just met. Hell, she did not even know his name.
She was still shaken when she left for school on Monday morning. In fact she did not come out of the house until she had seen an athletic figure in running shorts disappear in the direction of the park.
He moved easily, powerful arms pumping. Kagome walked rapidly to the bus stop, trying to put the picture out of her mind.
Trying to forget, too, her own response.
It was impossible. Just a distance glimpse of that lithe powerful body and she was shaking like schoolgirl.
What is happening to me? thought Kagome. How can I have turned into such a fool?
