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Chapter 6
Kagome got to work so early that she had to rout out the janitor to let her in. She went straight to the studio.
She set out the gr. 10's project meticulously. Then she sat down and looked over the register record cards. At least that was what she would have said she was doing. But there was a blind look in her eyes, which did not suggest she was taking much in. And she did not move, even when the bell went for morning assembly.
If only she had closed the door on Miss Kikyou. If only she had not allowed herself to talk to him like that, as if he were a friend. If only she had not gone upstairs with him.
In the distance the school sang, "Love divine, all loves excelling". Kagome shuddered. "Love" was not a word she had even permitted to cross her mind. But now, thanks to the music master's mind limited repertoire, the damage was done. She did not know whether to laugh or cry.
There was an exuberant surge of laughter from the corridor. Assembly must have finished. Kagome bit her lip. For a brief second all she wanted was to be back in his arms again. She wanted to kiss and be kissed, wildly.
She swallowed. There are few things lonelier than listening to other people going about their daily business, Kagome reminded herself. It did not mean she was in love with a stranger. That would be nonsense.
She had never been in love in her life. When Hiten had flinched and turned away from her she had been hurt, but not to the core, not mortally. Yet last night there had been a moment when---
The door burst open and the grade tens' pounded in. Kagome stood up. For the first time in their collective experience a teacher greeted them with genuine relief.
Unlike Kagome, Sesshoumaru Takari got to work late. Naoka had never known it to happen before. What was even more out of character, he strode past his faithful secretary's desk without so much as a nod. He slammed the door to his office, only to open it almost at once.
"Get Souta Kira on the phone now."
This time the slam had a note of finality.
"Kagome! There you are." The Headmaster put his head round the door. "We missed you."
Kagome looked at him abstractedly. "Did you?" she said without interest.
Naraku Shinto was used to careful politeness from Kagome. He knew he alarmed her. He enjoyed it. This indifference was unexpected and not all welcome.
He came into the studio and said sharply, "I expect all members of staff to attend assembly."
Even that did not move her. "Yes," she said. "Sorry." She did not look at him. He did not like it. In fact he disliked it so much that he forgot a cardinal rule and raised his voice.
"Be sure you're there tomorrow."
Kagome turned empty eyes on him. "Right."
He began to feel as if he were invisible. The senior 2's bent over their easels industriously. But he was too experienced a teacher not to know they were taking in every word.
He lowered his voice again. "You're going to have to show more commitment than this, you know, Kagome." His very pleasantness was a threat, and they both they knew it. "You can't let everyone know that teaching is only second best for you. The kids will pick it up."
She shrugged. It infuriated him. He took a hasty step towards her. Not one of the students turned. But they held their breath. Kagome, thought, did not react by so much as a flicker of an eyelash.
That was unusual that he stopped and peered at her. "Are you all right?"
The only answer Kagome gave was a little choke of laughter. I could have doubled as a sob.
Baffled, Kouga said, "I shall expect you in first thing on the Monday of half-term to talk about the end of term exhibition. That is the least you can do."
Kagome gave him a faint, sweet smile and said nothing. With all those subdued children not looking at him, there was nothing he could do. He stamped out.
Sesshoumaru was making notes at his desk when the phone rang. He seized it at once.
"Kira?" (Souta)
But it was Totosai. He had never heard Sesshoumaru sound so fierce. He said so.
Sesshoumaru did not laugh. Another first.
"I was going to ask if it's all right if I come back this weekend," Totosai said, wondering what was wrong. "But tell me to push off if it isn't convenient."
"No, that's fine." Sesshoumaru could not have sounded less interested. He made a few savage scrawls on the paper. "I'm going away but the Bates' will be back."
One of the other lights on his bank of phones blinked. He put Totosai on hold.
"Mr. Kita for you," Naoka said.
"I'll take it." He flicked back. "Sorry, Totosai, something I've got to deal with. Let Bates know when you're arriving."
Sango did not see her friend until just before lunch. She was shocked. Kagome was walking along the corridor, hardly noticing the children who rushed past even when they bumped into her. She had a piece of paper in her hand. Sango's experienced eye identified it as one of the school secretary's messages.
"Problem?" she asked worriedly, hurrying forward.
"What?" Kagome jumped. She had not noticed Sango either. "Oh, hello. No, no problem. Rather the reverse. Souta thinks he has found me a studio. I can spend all the half-term week painting." She smiled. The smile, thought a shocked Sango, looked as if it had been applied to a gingerbread man by a clumsy five-year old.
"Kagome, what's wrong?"
"Nothing. What should be wrong? It's a great news."
Sango did not believe her. She had never seen Kagome look like that---as if she had received a sever shock and could even now not believe it.
She said so. Kagome shook her head.
"There's nothing wrong," she said firmly. "Believe me. Nothing at all."
She seemed to be saying that all day. When she got home she was exhausted by other people's concern. Kagome closed the front door behind her and leaned against it, closing her eyes. Her bag slipped from her slackened fingers.
"You're doing what?"
"I'm taking a week off."
The board of Takari International exchanged looks.
"But---these rumors," said one of them.
"All nonsense," Sesshoumaru said breezily.
"But what if the press get curious?"
Sesshoumaru nodded at the treasurer. "I'm sure Xiao can handle it. We've got a professional PR company to advice, if necessary."
There was a general uncomfortable shuffling. "Where will you be?" said one of the directors.
Sesshoumaru smiled. "Naoka will know how to contact me. If she absolutely has to."
They had to be content. Naoka, rushed off her feet executing instructions she had never received before, had to be content as well.
"The car will be at your house at seven," she told him. "The pilot is filing a flight plan. He will let you know as soon as they confirm the take-off and landing slots."
The door opened and the treasurer came in.
"Look, Taisho, I know you need a holiday. But is it a good idea to go now?"
"Yes," said Sesshoumaru unequivocally.
Xiao made a discovery. "Someone's made you angry."
Naoka murmured an excuse and returned to her own office.
"Who is it? The Atlanta people? Ceila? Look, there's no need for you to storm off in a temped. This is the sort of thing I'm paid to deal with. I can deal with it. Just---"
"I am not," said Sesshoumaru furiously, "in a temper. I want some time to live my own life for a bit. Is that so comprehensible?"
Xiao stared. "But Takari's is your life," he said, with great truth, but not much tact.
Sesshoumaru breathed hard.
"Then perhaps it shouldn't be."
He put the last filed into his wall safe, closed the door and swung the combination lock. He turned back to Xiao with the air of one who has burned his boats.
"There."
Xiao shook his head. He still did not quite believe it.
"But what about Ceila's chares? I mean, if she really is trying to sell them---"
Sesshoumaru picked up his briefcase and gave Xiao a faintly malicious smile.
"Your call."
Xiao looked alarmed. Sesshoumaru's smile turned to a crocodile grin.
"You said you could deal with it. So deal. I'm off."
He went.
Kagome was shaken out of her reverie by a ring on the doorbell. She jumped as if a spear had come through solid oak. The bell rang again. Pausing only to dash away angry tearstains, she flung the door open, prepared to do battle.
But it was not anyone with whom she had to fight. It was Souta. He was waving a large brown envelope and grinning from ear to ear.
He struck the pose of a song and dance man conjuring applause. "Half-term, s studio and inspiration solved all in one go. Am I the best, or am I not?" He thrust the envelope at her.
Kagome took it automatically. She told herself she was not disappointed, blinking.
'"Thank you, Souta,"' he prompted.
She looked down at the envelope. "Thank you for what?" she said suspiciously.
"The answer to all you problems."
"All---?" For a horrid moment Kagome wondered if last night's adventure was written on her face for all to see. Then she realized that had to be nonsense. She rubbed her eyes and said ruefully, "I'm sorry, I'm not with you. I've only just got back from school. Come and have a coffee and tell what problems I can say goodbye to."
When he had, she stared at him in disbelief.
"Italy? I can't afford to go to Italy."
Souta tapped the envelope. "Won't cost you a penny. There's the ticket. You stay in an artists' commune in Castello San Pierto. Even the food is free."
Kagome's eyes narrowed. "How?"
"I told you. A charitable foundation."
Her suspicion increased. "You've organized this all very quickly."
Souta sighed. "Well, you weren't doing anything about it, were you?"
Kagome bit her lip. She was still uneasy, though she could not have said why.
"Whose idea is this?"
Souta frowned. "I told you, I rang round---"
She interrupted. "Don't play games with me, Souta. Did Takari put you up to this?"
There was a startled pause. Then, "What this all about, Kagome," Souta asked with real curiosity. "I thought you hadn't met him."
She folded her lips together. She was still in shock from the discoveries of last night. This was the least of the. And yet it still made her wince.
"So, did I," she muttered at last.
His eyebrows flew up in comical astonishment. "I sense a mystery."
Kagome saw she was digging a trap for herself.
"Never mind that either," she said hurriedly. "I can't go. I'm supposed to be housesitting. I can't just waltz off leaving the house unoccupied."
Souta did not falter for a moment. "Leave that to me. Think of the Tuscan hills in summer."
"And the Head wants me at school. He was quite threatening about it."
"That's the groper?" Souta said innocently.
Kagome stared at him for a moment, not seeing him. She thought of the gloating note in Naraku's voice. She had told herself that nothing could be worse that losing her job. After last night, though, her horizons of horror had widened. There was quite a lot that was worse, including coming face to face with the man next door.
"When do I leave?"
Souta gave a long sigh. "That's my girl."
Kagome did not really believe her luck until she was in the back of a car racing along at a suicidal pace. Tuscan sunshine glazed the landscape through which they hurtled. The fields were lush and well tended. In the distance the lollipop pines reminded her that she had left home behind. She let out a long sigh of pleasure and relief.
Her driver was courteous and efficient, but they established quickly that neither of them had enough of the other's language to make a conversation. So she could stretch out without guilt and give herself up to anticipation. A whole week's uninterrupted painting. Oh, she was going to have so much fun. And, in spite of her misgivings, in was really going to happen. Nothing could stop it now.
So why did her mind persist in returning to the past week, instead of relishing the glorious days to come? It was utterly perverse.
Well, not really the whole week. Just that night. That one hot night when she lost her balance, her sense of proportion and, very nearly, her heart.
Kagome turned her head restlessly against the upholstery. But, try as she would, the memories flooded back. It was as if he was there in the car with her: silent, enigmatic, demanding. Kagome swallowed remembering.
They had stood so close in the kitchen that night. Not embracing. Not even touching. But she had felt her hair wafting against her neck as he breathed.
"Oh, I will do what is expected of me," he had said.
There was a note of self-mockery, even bitterness in his voice. He was touching her face but it felt as if he was angry at something she could not guess at. Something that had made him angrier and angrier for a long time.
Just for a moment it was as if she was not there. But when he looked at her…
"Oh, yes," he said quietly. "Every damned thing."
Kagome's mouth went dry. Her thoughts scurried frantically. Nothing coherent emerged.
And then there was a noise. They both froze. The door to the utility room swung open soundlessly. To Kagome's astonishment, he turned on his heel, masking her with his body, as if he expected an attack. In one swift, silent movement he swept them both sideways to the door in the hall.
The door to the utility room swung wider. Nothing happened. Kagome held her breath. There was an odd scratching sound. And then a large head peered mournfully round it.
Their laughter came in a great explosion of released tension.
"That damned dog."
"He's sweet," Kagome said, forgetting that she had gone off animals.
He let her go.
"No, he's not. He's nosy and greedy and I'm not at all sure he even does the job. One good pat and any burglar would get past him."
But, in spite of his harsh words, he rubbed the dog's head before throwing it a bone-shaped biscuit.
"I didn't get past him," Kagome pointed out.
He looked at her thoughtfully. "No, I suppose you didn't. I let you in myself, didn't I?"
She gave him a brilliant smile, partly out of relief that the dog was not the assassin he'd seemed to expect, partly from sheer release of tension. "So you've only got yourself to blame," she said gaily.
His eyes flickered. "Yes. Yes, I have, haven't I?"
The dog chomped happily on his biscuit.
"Come on. Before that animal blackmails us any further."
He led the way purposefully back into the main body of the house and up a flight of stairs. At the top he turned to look down at her.
"Well?" he said softly.
He had not turned on the light. She could see him clearly enough, outlined against the Gothic window, but she could not read his expression.
"Well?" she echoed uncertainly.
"We can go into the study and make polite conversation until Lasshe Hakuro rings. If she does. Or…"
Kagome had a craven desire to pretend she did not know what he was talking about. She swallowed. Deafeningly.
"Or we can go upstairs and find out what is happening her."
It was not, she thought, much of a seduction technique.
No blandishments, no promises; he did not even say that he wanted her. But then she had seen the way he looked at her and she knew that already.
The trouble was that she knew she wanted him too. Wanted as she had never wanted before. "Oh, God," she said under her breath.
"Your choice," he said unhelpfully.
Kagome was hot again. The tall staircase seemed suddenly airless. Her t-shirt clung. He stood at the top of the stairs like a challenger out of a legend.
She thought, I've been waiting for this all my life. I've been afraid of this all my life. Her hand went to her middle in a gesture she was not even aware of. She thought, this time I can't run away. But she could not move either.
He made an impatient noise and ran back down the last two stairs to her side. He ran a hand down one of the scratches the little cat had left other arm.
"Too battered?" His voice was warm with amusement.
It was the perfect excuse. She could back out without offence, without even looking a coward. Except, of course, that she did not want to. She moistened her lips.
"No." It was a harsh whisper.
"Well, then…"
He put an arm round her.
And Kagome found she had no choice at all. Her body had already made it. She turned into his embrace and kissed him hard.
His response was immediate and unequivocal. He caught her up against him so that her toes left the floor. They swayed.
Kagome gave a little exclamation of alarm. He laughed, a shaken, breathless laugh. And before she knew what he was about, he swung her up into his arms. Holding her against his chest, he took the next flight two at a time.
He shouldered his way into an unlit room and they fell onto the bed together.
Kagome writhed against him, twisting and turning to get closer as he tore off his clothes. She heard his laugh, husky in the darkness.
"Careful."
But she was too wild with longing to be careful. She flung off her t-shirt, impatient of all restraint. And then he was naked too, beside her, touching her slowly but with such assurance he might have been doing it all their lives.
Kagome gasped silently at the long, infinitely tantalizing caresses. His finger touched her everywhere. Kagome was shocked by the intimacy that he demanded. She had never imagined she could surrender herself to another human being with such abandon. It was so exciting it was almost unbearable.
"Touch me," he breathed in her ear.
That shook her. But under the goad of her own desire she could not do anything but what he wanted. Tentatively, she ran her hands down his body, learning by touch, her confidence growing as she felt him respond.
She was shocked anew when he groaned with sudden pleasure. Her hand jumped away. He caught it and held it against him.
"I want to please you," he said against her skin. "Tell me what you want."
For a girl with no experience it was a tall order. Even while she was drowning in this new dimension of feeling Kagome recognized that. She was shaken by wild, soundless laughter.
"Anything. Everything."
To him it must have sounded the last word in sophistication.
"My pleasure," he said. She could hear the smile in his voice.
Even so, he stayed unhurried. He was gentle but insistent. Wringing every last ounce of sensation from her. Unbelieving, Kagome could hear her own voice, unrecognizably harsh, as those long, clever finger brought her to the edge of the volcano and kept her there…kept her there.
She rose in his arms, sobbing.
"Please."
He drew a sharp breath and bent his head. Kagome felt his tongue flickering about her nipples. Her whole body convulsed. His touch intensified.
Kagome hardly knew what she was doing. She wound her gingers into his hair. The precipice approached. She strained her fingers towards it. He murmured something; she was not sure what. Her body took up a new rhythm, which he seemed to recognize, but was utterly strange to her. And then---and then---her head fell back. She cried out.
He held her as the shudders ran through her as if they would shake her to pieces. At last she was still. She turned her head until her lips were a hair's breadth from his naked shoulder.
"Darling," she heard herself murmur. It was no more that a breath in the silent room, a shy avowal.
He carried her hand to his lips and kissed the palm. It was graceful and courteous but it was not an avowal. She could not pretend to herself that it was. Kagome flinched.
To hide it, she turned onto her side, curled up and lay as still as a mouse. This, she thought, was going to hurt. When she had time to think about it. When she got away.
He did not appear to notice. He pushed the hair back from her sweat-dampened brow. It was an oddly touching gesture. She clinked tears back.
"I like an enthusiast." His voice was full of lazy laughter.
"Yes." She sounded wooden. She could not help it.
He did notice that. He came up onto one elbow, peering down at her in the darkness.
"What's wrong?" Then, in quick concern, "I didn't hurt you, did I?"
"H-hurt me?" Suddenly her voice was stark panic.
Her hand hack-knifed to her middle. She had forgotten. Oh, God, how could she have forgotten? She must have been out of her mind. She had to get of here now. Before---
"No," she said in a strangled voice.
"Are you sure?"
He was frowning. Kagome could hear it. He reached out a long arm towards the bedside table.
"Don't put on the light."
"What?" Her vehemence startled him. "Why---?"
And that was when the phone rang. With one last troubled look at Kagome, he rolled away to pick it up.
"Hello? Who?" A pause. "Oh, Lasshe, hi."
Kagome went very still. There was something in his tone. He did not sound like the gardener taking to an acquaintance of his employer. He did not sound like any sort of employee at all.
He was talking into the telephone, oblivious of her reaction. "Yes. Yes, she's here. What?" Then, in a voice of unholy amusement, "Well, well. And I never knew. Ok, I'll find it. Yes, nice to talk to you too. Bye."
He put the phone down and turned. Kagome was staring at him as if the world had turned upside down. Which, in a way, it had.
Why had it not occurred to her before? The signs were all there. Security expert! Gardener! She could see now what ludicrous ideas they were.
'My car' he had said in the garage. Not 'Mr. Takari's car'. Not even 'the boss's car'. My car. Because, of course, that was what it was. His car.
"Who are you?" she said in a whisper.
He thought it was funny. "Women have said a lot of things to me in bed. But I don't recall being asked to introduce myself before." Kagome was scrambling away from him.
"You knew I didn't know who you were," she flung at him. She was crying but she was hardly aware of it. "You knew."
It annoyed him. "I knew we both wanted to make love."
Kagome winced. It was all too true.
But she said fierily, "I didn't know I was going to bed with a neurotic millionaire who was going to fit me in between deals."
"Fit---you---in?" He was now as angry as she was. "What right have you got to say that?"
She had none and she knew it. She bounced out of bed and scrabbled under his discarded clothes for her t-shirt. When it was on, she felt braver. She turned to face him.
"Why didn't you tell me who you were? Did it give you a kick?"
Sesshoumaru's temper shot off the scale. But, unlike Kagome, he was good at focusing---and even better at dissembling.
"Yes, it did, actually."
He put on the light. Kagome jumped. He was completely unselfconscious about his nakedness. She was not. She did not look away but it took a considerable resolution not to.
He took in Kagome's defiant stance and resumed t-shirt and raised his eyebrows.
"Not staying?"
She forgot her embarrassment. She made a small explosive sound of extreme rage. He smiled.
"I am going," she announced. "I'll sleep in the square if I have to."
His smile broadened and he leaned back among the pillows.
Kagome looked away. It was so unfair. How could anyone be so unprincipled and look so sexy?
"Sure? It will be cold."
Kagome knew it would. She did not look forward to it at all. But---
"Better than the alternative," she said bravely.
He put his hands behind his head and watched her struggles with amusement.
"Not willing to trade your honor for a decent night's sleep?" he mocked.
She gave an involuntary shiver. "I think the honor went some time ago."
He stopped smiling. He stood up and shrugged into a dragon-embroidered robe.
"According to Lasshe, the Bates' have your spare key," he said curtly, "If she's right. I know where it is."
He strode downstairs, snapping on the lights as he went. Kagome tumbled after him.
"And if she isn't right?"
He turned and looked up at her, his teeth a flash of pure white malice.
"Then it's the open air for you, isn't it?"
But the Bates' had the key. Kagome took it from him with greet care, so that their finger did not touch for even a second. He saw her home. Kagome said goodnight with great ceremony across a distance of two meters and a broken heart.
"Kagome---"
"Goodnight, Mr. Takari."
"In the circumstances," Sesshoumaru said grimly, "that is bordering a declaration of war."
Kagome was temporarily confused and allowed it to show.
He showed his teeth in a smile of no amusement at all.
"Do you think either of us is going to have a good night?"
Tell me if anything is wrong with it.
Thanks for reading, please continue...
