I don't own these characters.
3: Never Saw It Coming
Sesshomaru glanced down at the petite creature by his side for about the hundredth time since he made her acquaintance no more than an hour ago. The newly discovered creature, to him anyway, was called Kikyo and she was a credit to her species. Although, he was already growing skeptical she was truly human. Yes, his nose assured him that she was quite human, but from what he could see while spending time with her, she was some new type of creature.
Beyond the fact she knew art, she managed to pull his attention to things he never cared much about. She had knowledge of paintings, but her talent and depth beamed when they wandered by statues. Sculptures had never meant anything to him, but listening to her speak on the techniques and watching her hands move, as if she was shaping clay, he was locked in. He could listen to her for hours, be it statues or paintings.
"I saw this piece when it was on display at the modern art museum. The lighting did not do it justice," Kikyo said as they stood in front of another painting.
Sesshomaru nodded. "I recall. There were shadows on top of the shadows you were expected to see."
"But, the shadows from the light blended too well with the shadows of the painting."
He nodded. "Indeed." He learned Kikyo had seen many pieces of demonic art in person and in classes when she was in school. "The blend that was done with the shadows, the liquid effect of the darks."
"Masterful brushstrokes, obscured by poor lightning." She chuckled low in her throat. If he did not have such excellent hearing, he would have missed the sound. Hairs on his arm felt like they danced for a second.
"At least the lighting did not obscure the scent."
She nodded. "It is one of the worst things about enjoying his pieces. I know the paints are chosen not just for sight, but smell and I cannot experience the aroma beyond word of mouth. I know I'm missing out on so much of the piece because of that."
"The paint scents enhance the piece. Every smell seems to go with the image perfectly and recreates the whole thing through smell. It's almost like having two pieces in one through vision and scent. It's all well done."
She sighed, shoulders dropping just a bit. "I am sure it is."
Kikyo was the only human he had ever encountered to understand demon art beyond the basics and be able to appreciate it almost as a demon would. She was an interesting person, for a human anyway. Well, he would admit he was enjoying her company, but he was willing to bet that would not last long. She was a human, so she would probably do something to make him turn away in disgust soon enough, he suspected.
"You certainly do know your art," Sesshomaru commented as Kikyo finished admiring yet another painting.
"I feel like I'm touching another person's soul when I view their art. Art should connect people, be it viewer and artist or viewer to viewer. Art should remind you that you are not alone in this universe," she replied.
Sesshomaru only glanced down at her again. His thoughts on art were not entirely the same, but he liked hearing her opinions. She had a deep intellect on the matter, which he had already grown to respect. He supposed she might not do something that would make him turn away from her. Maybe she was not human and that was why he was liking the time he spent with her.
"Kikyo, have you had lunch yet?" the dog demon inquired. He would like to examine the phenomena that was this human as well as experiment further with tolerating her.
"No, I haven't," she answered.
"Would you care to join me?" he offered.
"I would like to, but I have to meet with my sisters. Perhaps tomorrow?"
Sesshomaru thought about it. He did not like being turned down on his proposal, but he excused it because she really could have prior engagements for the day. He did not feel like she was blowing him off or lying to him to be rid of him. He would like to meet with her again, as she helped relax him. He had not thought of that fool Naraku since he had been with her.
"Tomorrow would be fine. Is there a place you prefer?" the platinum-haired male inquired.
"No, not really," she answered.
"All right. Is there a place I should pick you up?" he asked.
"I will probably be here again. I have been here for the past few days," she replied.
"Really?" he asked in a surprised tone. Well, it was a surprised tone for him. The subtle change in his voice went by Kikyo since she did not know him very well. "Is it because of that one painting?" he asked. He could tell that one particular painting was like a magnet for her attention.
"Mostly. I also still have not had the chance to see all of the floors of this place. It is monstrous," she pointed out and motioned with her hand around the corridor that they were.
"It is. Surely you would see more of it if you didn't take so much time on the one painting that puzzles you," he commented.
"I suppose. I may take your word for it and admit he was trying to be ambiguous. It just doesn't seem like something he would usually do," she argued.
"Every now and then an artist should step away from his formula and try something different. Expressing one's self in the same way ceases to be art after a while and is only a cry for help," he stated.
Kikyo nodded. "I suppose. You cannot grow as an artist if you stick to one form of expression. What are you expressing then?"
"Nothing inside one stays the same or constant to always produce the same manner of art or even in the same nature. A true artist is always evolving."
"This is true. Well, sir, I have to be going or my sisters will worry. I shall see you tomorrow when?"
"The time we met today is fine. Have a good day," he replied.
Kikyo nodded and took her leave. He watched her as she exited the museum. He could hardly believe he made the acquaintance of quite the interesting little human and he thought he might want to keep an eye on her. After all, it was not every day he met a human who could hold his attention for as long as she had. He looked forward to his meeting with her tomorrow.
For now, though, he needed to get back to work. He was only supposed to be gone for an hour and his hour had ended almost thirty minutes ago. He strolled up the street and had the misfortune of walking next to a bus as it was pulling away and he was covered in exhaust from the vehicle. He frowned and covered his nose to avoid passing out thanks to the horrid odor, but it would cling to his clothes for far too long. He might actually be cursed.
The platinum-haired demon entered the building and the look on his face told everyone to stay away from him unless they had something very important to inform him of or they had a death wish. Everyone stayed out of his path, but stared at him. He snarled, even though he understood why all eyes were on him. He hardly ever had a hair out of place, but now he had been gone for over an hour and his suit was dirty. He made a beeline for his office, only to find out his office was the last place he would like to be. The room was still infested with Naraku. Did he sit here and wait for me?
"What do you want?" the dog demon inquired with a frustrated sigh as he made his way to his desk, which he had situated in the corner. He did not have to go near Naraku until he sat down.
"You smell like a bus," Naraku noted with a curl to his top lip.
"That doesn't tell me what you want," Sesshomaru pointed out, leaning back in his seat to give the hanyou a proper glare. He wanted to take off his suit jacket, but he refused to seem uncomfortable with Naraku right there.
"Have you done any work yet?" Naraku's voice had a taste of steel in it, like he was in charge. His tone caused the full demon to frown deeper than what he was already doing.
"Isn't that a question you should ask yourself?" the golden-eyed male countered in a bit of a forceful tone. The whole reason he left earlier was because Naraku seemed more interested in saying what they could not do rather than what he would do for the account. Everything he came up with seemed cliché and lazy. It was like he got his degree out of a cereal box. Sesshomaru could not understand why their clients wanted Naraku at all.
Needless to say, their partnership was not working out well so far. They could hardly stand to be in the same room together, so bouncing ideas off of each other was unheard of. They had been attempting to work alone and then compare what they come up with, but neither of them liked what the other did, so they always ended up back to the old drawing board. Sesshomaru feared he would have a permanent headache by the time he was done with this half-breed.
"Have you come up with a logo or not?" Naraku huffed. He was sick of the dog demon acting as if he was the one not doing anything. He had come up with several slogans he was certain would work, but Sesshomaru's logos had not been worth the paper they were drawn on in his opinion. He really did not see why his clients desired the arrogant dog on the account.
"Have you come up with another slogan?" Sesshomaru inquired. They could not even get through the simpler parts of the account. He was not sure how they would ever make it through everything else.
The crimson-eyed half-demon frowned. He was sick of the dog demon answering his questions with a question. Sesshomaru never gave him a straight answer, which he took as a sign of disrespect. He deserved some damn respect, in his opinion.
Sesshomaru would not have cared if Naraku took his questioning as disrespectful. He did not respect Naraku. There was nothing of substance to respect, but that was not why he answered a question with a question. He did it because he did not see why Naraku was interrogating him when it was clear the hanyou had not put in any work on anything. How dare Naraku question him when Naraku had done nothing at all?
"Unless you have something to show me, you should get out," Sesshomaru stated, turning away from his unwanted visitor. He would rather worry about getting out of his suit to avoid choking on the bus fumes, even though they were doing him a favor right now. He would rather smell the bus than Naraku.
Naraku remained in the seat, staring at him in defiance for a long moment, like this was some childish game. The noble demon was not playing around with Naraku. He stood back up, preparing to go through the irksome hanyou out of the office, but Naraku wisely exited before things came to that. Sesshomaru sighed and sat back down.
He could not help wondering how life altering it would be to simply put his hand through Naraku's chest. It would probably be as annoying as the half-breed himself. Sighing, he rubbed his temple.
At least the day was not a total loss. He had met the interesting little human and he had a lunch date with her tomorrow, so that was a plus. He would look forward to that, even if she was just a human. She was still one of the most fascinating women he had come across.
-8-8-8-8-
Kikyo made her way to the little café where she and her sisters continued to meet. They were waiting for her as usual. They had probably been waiting for her longer than usual, she realized. She had spent more time with Sesshomaru than she had meant to spend at the museum. It could not be helped. He was an interesting fellow.
Sesshomaru was intriguing to her because of his limited fascination with art, even though she knew he was testing her when he first approached her. Though his nonchalance oozed from him, even as they strolled through the museum. He had appeared so uninterested when she began to go on about some of the statues, but little by little, she hooked him. Statues did not seem to be his thing, not like painting. He tried to pretend he did not care, but he asked questions about the sculptures while acting as if they meant nothing to him. She felt like she had got someone interested in statues. That was quite a feat considering when he first approached her, he believed she had no clue about demonic art.
She had enjoyed his company because he was very learned about the paintings in the museum. He also had no problem with sharing his less-than-humble opinion on many pieces, but did not seem insulted by her ignorance on the subject. Unlike most demons, he tolerated the fact she could not experience the paintings in the same way he could. He also seemed to like saying why he thought a certain interpretation was wrong. He was convincing and had changed her mind on a several paintings.
"Sister, where have you been?" Midoriko inquired when she noticed Kikyo coming down the street. She stood up, but Kikyo waved her off.
"The demon museum again," the middle sister answered as she eased into her waiting seat.
"You truly like that museum, hmm?" Midoriko asked.
"You knew I would and that's why you showed it to me," Kikyo replied. There was no way she would not live in a museum of that size with so much art that she had only seen in pictures or had not experienced since high school. She still had not touched every inch of the place and she had been there about six times already.
"This is true. I wish you would have called to let us know you were going to be late," the eldest woman commented, slightly pursing her lips.
"We could've ordered," Kaede pointed out. This was very true and from her frown, Kikyo knew Kaede would have liked to order already.
"I'm sorry. I lost track of the time," Kikyo explained. For once, they had not been at the forefront of her mind.
"That's unlike you," Midoriko stated and Kikyo nodded in agreement.
"What happened?" Kaede asked, taking a gulp from her soda. She wore a baseball hat, covering one of her chocolate eyes and a bead of sweat ran down from the hat to her chin. They would see how long she would keep the hat on before conceding to the heat.
"Nothing much happened. I just met an interesting fellow and we got to talking. Eventually, I was engrossed in the conversation over some of the paintings and other works," Kikyo explained.
Kaede snickered and leaned her elbow on the table. "You left us waiting because of a guy?" She wiped her brow.
"Hardly," Kikyo answered. It was nothing like Kaede was suggesting with the twinkle in her eyes.
"A demon was actually talking with you about demon art in that museum?" Midoriko asked a bit incredulously.
"Well, I think I caught him by surprise," the middle sister replied.
"I'm sure you did. No demon expects to see a human in a museum full of demonic art. He probably thought you were lost," the eldest remarked.
"Or bonkers," the youngest added. She took her hat off and wiped her forehead with her palm, but put the cap back on.
Kikyo bit back a smile. "He may have, but in the end, we enjoyed each other's company and had a fine talk. He left me with a better understanding of a few pieces that had always puzzled me." She could not hold back a small smile now. She looked forward to doing it again.
"Well, at least you enjoyed yourself, even if it was with a demon," Midoriko commented.
Midoriko wondered what it was between her sister and people with demon blood. She did not mind Kikyo admitted to enjoying the company of a demon male who was not her husband. Kikyo deserved sometime to be happy and she certainly would not get that with her standoffish husband, who seemed to be a sadist and liked to make Kikyo miserable whenever the chance reared its head. As long as cavorting with this demon did not turn out to be a stroke of bad luck like meeting Naraku had. Besides, she doubted Kikyo would meet the same demon again. It was not like Kikyo would seek him out.
Their conversation was paused as the waiter came over to take their lunch orders. Kikyo also got a drink. She hoped that was the end of what she did with her time, as she knew her sisters could worry about her when around male demons if she showed enough interest. Of course, she was not so lucky.
"So, what was the demon like?" Kaede asked, refocused on Kikyo now that the waiter was gone.
"He was intelligent, very into paintings as far as I could tell—" Kikyo started, but her little sister cut her off.
"What did he look like?" the youngest clarified with a smile, as if humoring Kikyo, even though she was the one who started this.
"Oh." Kikyo blinked and had to take a moment to restart her thought pattern. "Well, he was tall and rather handsome with very light silver hair. He was pale… ethereally so. He was actually very soft spoken, but he sounded so very deliberant when he spoke. I'm meeting him again tomorrow."
The eldest's eyebrow ticked up as a hint of a frown ghosted across her face. "Tomorrow? Are you sure that's a good idea?"
"Why would it not be? We had a good time today and he did want to meet up again. I don't see why that should not be a good idea," Kikyo answered. Why should she not enjoy someone's company? It was not often she desired to be around a person enough to meet again.
"Well, you are married," Kaede commented as if it was obvious.
"I walked through a museum with him. I didn't jump into bed with him," the middle sister argued. Did they think she could not control herself and would simply throw herself at the first demon male who did not want to hurt her emotionally?
Midoriko was a bit stunned by Kikyo's words. The latter sentence was something she would have expected from Kaede, not Kikyo. She would never use such crude phrases, so she did not expect the middle sister to do such a thing. Midoriko did not get chance to speak on that, though.
"Shouldn't you not chance it?" the youngest commented.
"I am not going to do anything with him, aside from walk through the museum and have lunch tomorrow. That is all. I understand I am married and I do not make it a habit to go home with strange men as soon as I meet them," Kikyo stated.
She was married. She was married to one of the worse men she had ever met. But, she would not be disloyal because she made a stupid decision. She made vows to Naraku and she would honor those vows, even if he seemed to push them to the limit.
Besides, she had only just met Sesshomaru. She was not interested in him in any sort of romantic way. She had enjoyed a museum with him and that did not amount to much to her. After all, she enjoyed museums when she was by herself.
"Yeah, but you don't usually hang out with people unless they're already there," Kaede said. "Like, you don't make dates with people."
"Again, I am aware I am married. He was there today and we both found we liked our opinions on art and simply agreed to share them again tomorrow," Kikyo replied.
"Kikyo, be careful with this. Naraku might sense this other demon on you," Midoriko pointed out, as if her younger sister did not know that.
Kikyo only glanced at her sister. She knew her hanyou husband might sense or smell another demon on her, but for that to happen, she would need to be near him. She was not looking to be near him and ever since he began his new job, he did not seem to want to be near her either, busy trying to claw his way to the top of his career.
Naraku typically came home late now. He went to bars and places looking to unwind after a day of dealing with his partner at work. She was usually asleep by the time he came into the apartment. A few times, he came in drunk and woke her up to be an annoyance and harass her about whatever he deemed important. But, he generally left her alone and passed out on the living room floor, which she was thankful for. She knew how bad he could be if given any sort of excuse and from the way he ranted about the "dog bastard" he worked with, whatever was going on at his job seemed like it should have been enough of a reason for him to bother her.
The hanyou tried to focus his sadistic energy on his coworker since he had so quickly come to despise the full demon. He had practically forgotten he had a wife he had been planning to break, for the moment at least. She knew she was always somewhere lurking in his mind because of his twisted view on things.
"So, you say you're having lunch with this new demon. Don't you think that is a bit much?" Midoriko inquired, taking a sip of her drink as the waiter returned with an iced tea for the middle sister.
"To have lunch? I have lunch with you two everyday," Kikyo replied, her index finger going right to top of the glass and she began circling it.
"We're not male demons," Midoriko stated.
"Sister, I am not going to do anything with him. This is not a date and I'm not having an affair this gentleman. You're reading too much into." Kikyo could not believe she actually had to say this. "Do you have such little faith in me?"
Midoriko waved Kikyo off instead of dignifying that with a response. She doubted her younger sister would do anything outrageous, but she still did not think it was a good idea for her sister to hang around a demon male when she was married to a hanyou, a rather evil hanyou. She thought it was asking for trouble.
"Be careful, sister," the eldest practically pled.
"It is only lunch," Kikyo replied in a dismissive tone. She did not think anything would happen. She understood she was married and she was not really interested in Sesshomaru anyway. Yes, he was handsome, he knew a lot about art, and he seemed to very intelligent, but that did not make him attractive to her.
"Still be careful," Midoriko repeated.
Kikyo only nodded, hoping it would ease her elder sister's mind. She had no plans to do anything with Sesshomaru aside from have lunch with him and she doubted he wanted anything from her. He did not seem to think too highly of humans, stating a number of times while they toured the museum that "humans could never do something so grand" or something else against humans. She did not see why he had even spent time with her since he seemed to think humans were little more than total bipedal monkeys and nothing more. She figured she might be able to get a better handle on him when she spent more time with him tomorrow.
"If that foolhardy hanyou accuses you of anything or tries anything, rest assured he will be ashes," Midoriko said.
Kikyo shook her head. She would not give her big sister the excuse. If Naraku had a problem she would handle it. Thankfully, this topic was dropped as their food finally arrived. Kaede finally took the hat off of her head.
-*-(New day)-*-
Sesshomaru strolled into the demon art museum. He thought Kikyo would be waiting outside for him, but he did not see her there. He remembered her scent from yesterday and he caught a whiff of it at the front of the museum, which let him know she was there. He figured he knew where she was, but he still followed her sent, which led him to right where he knew she would be.
"You really like this painting," Sesshomaru commented as he came up to Kikyo.
"Even if it is supposed to be ambiguous as you say in meaning, I can still appreciate the colors, patterns, and brushstrokes as I do with all of his works," she replied.
"I suppose," he said. "How long have you been here?" He could tell from her smell at the front of the building and how faded it was she had been there a while, but he wanted to know how long she had roamed the museum.
"I actually don't know," she answered with a small amused smile. She lost track of time in the museum often it seemed. Such things never happened in other museums, but there was so much in this one.
"You are an odd little human," he commented.
"I hope you don't think I'll take that as a compliment," she riposted.
Sesshomaru seemed to think on it for a moment. "No, I don't suppose you would."
"At least you know. So, are we to have lunch or might I continue to get lost in this work?" she asked.
"Lunch for me would be best. I could use some kind of nourishment," he commented. He needed something to give him strength to go deal with that blasted fool of a hanyou. Naraku was going to make him pull all of his hair out before using his poisonous claws to decapitate the filthy half-breed.
Sesshomaru turned around to leave the museum and Kikyo followed him. He hailed a taxi, which she thought was a bit odd. There were dozens of restaurants and cafes in the area they were in, so why did they need to take a cab anywhere? She glanced at her companion and realized if she did not ask, he would not explain himself.
"Where are we going?" she inquired.
"A good place," he simply answered. He wanted to go to his favorite restaurant and eat his favorite meal to help him forget that an irksome bastard like Naraku even existed. He thought an elegant atmosphere and intelligent company would wipe Naraku from his mind, if only for a little while. If only he thought about that when he left work, he would have remembered to bring his car.
Kikyo only nodded. Some women might be worried being in an enclosed place with a male demon she just met and had no idea where they going, but Kikyo hardly thought about it. Danger was not really a word she recognized because she was always confident she could take care of herself. Besides, she did not sense any threat from him.
They silently took the short ride to the restaurant Sesshomaru wanted to go to. Kikyo did not look surprised by the décor of the restaurant. She used to often go to nice places with her elder sister whenever Midoriko won a case; the eldest sister was a rather successful attorney.
The golden-eyed demon glanced down at his companion to see her reaction to the restaurant. There was no reaction, which he did not admit, impressed him. He rarely met a female who could keep her calm when standing outside of such a lush establishment. He noticed almost every subtle change in a woman when she laid eyes on something that showed he had wealth at his disposal. There was no change her demeanor.
They entered and Sesshomaru was given a table immediately, even though he did not have a reservation. Kikyo still was quite unimpressed, as if this was something that she was used to. She's an odd creature. He could not think of a better way to describe her. He was coming to understand he liked the fact that she was so strange.
"I'm not sure if they serve human food," Sesshomaru commented, even though he was lying. His father brought his stepmother there all of the time and he knew they served human food, especially when Rin went to the restaurant. She had to let everyone know they served the best grilled fish she had ever tasted.
He had lied because he wanted to see her reaction to the lie. He figured any other woman would either pout or pretend that it did not bother her. He was not sure what Kikyo might do since she was different from any other woman that he could think of, except maybe Rin, but Rin was a human who did not know she was human.
"Why would you bring me to some place that might not serve what I need?" Kikyo asked, almost as if musing aloud, while looking at the menu. She could see they catered to both humans and demons.
"Perhaps I thought you would eat demon food since you enjoy demon art," he proposed.
"You would be reading too much into me then, sir," she commented with a small smile. She was obviously amused and the look on her face nearly made him smile.
"I should have known a human would lack depth," he countered. Usually, he would mean those words, but something about her made them more a tease than anything else. Maybe it had something to do with the fact she nearly made him smile, which was something only his little sister should have been able to do.
She seemed to know he was teasing, even though his voice remained the same. "Well, I should have known that a demon would be selfish," she replied.
"I suppose you should have," he concurred. Had she teased back and he accepted that? Well, now, he was being odd.
Kikyo laughed just a bit, the sound low, but pealed like a small bell. A waiter came over to take their orders and they both noted the other did not order how they assumed they would. They both ordered what they knew to be the other's species form of junk food. They looked at each other as the waiter went off to gather their meals.
"You don't look like the type to have such a poor diet," Sesshomaru said.
"I was going to say the same of you," Kikyo replied.
"I suppose there's much for us to learn about each other."
"It does seem that way. But, we have time, don't we?" she asked.
"Well, we have an hour and then I must get back to work," he admitted with a subtle pained look in his eyes.
She noticed. "You're stressed over work."
"No, only a person at work," he replied.
"Well, if you wish, you can tell me about it. Or if you would like, you could pretend that person doesn't exist at all. I'm sure I can offer up some kind of conversation if you would rather forget," she offered.
"I'm sure you could." Sesshomaru decided against discussing Naraku. He would rather not burden her with the annoyance of a hanyou. He also would rather forget Naraku while he was with Kikyo. He wanted to know more about the strange human in his company than anything else. She intrigued him. "When did you get into art?"
She smiled and they were off. The pair sat with each other, making casual conversation. Every now and then, they would hit a lull in the discussion and they would just be silent. He was amazed when she would just allow the silence to reign. Most women would try to fill the quiet with something irrelevant or irksome, even his darling little sister had a bad habit with that one. But, then again, Rin was a talker. Kikyo was not and he liked that about her. It was shock for him to admit such a thing, even to himself. It was so hard to find a person who understood silence did not have to be discomforting or filled with any idea that came to mind. He had to suffer through that nonsense with Inuyasha.
"So, what are you doing tomorrow?" Sesshomaru asked Kikyo as they finished with their meal and prepared to leave the establishment.
"The same thing I did today," Kikyo replied.
"No appointment with your sisters?"
"Only if you're not going to ask me to lunch again," she answered with a small smile.
"I see. Well, would you care to join me for lunch here again tomorrow?" he inquired.
"Should I meet you here?" she countered.
"No, I wouldn't want to cut into your time with that precious painting," he remarked.
"The painting is quite fascinating and I always notice something new when I see it," she defended herself.
"I know and understand. I'll come back to the museum to get you," he said. It would be the gentleman thing to do, after all, and he was… okay, he would not call himself a gentleman, but he did have manners.
"All right, see you tomorrow then. I hope when you return to work, things will be better for you," she said.
Sesshomaru nodded, even though he doubted things would be better for him. If she knew Naraku, he thought, then she could just tell him where to find the right amount of bug spray to kill the pest. They bid each other farewell and went their separate ways for the day. It would be nice to meet up again tomorrow, though.
-8-8-8-8-
Next time: if it looks like a date and quacks like a date… doesn't that make it a date? Maybe not since Sesshomaru finds out Kikyo is married and he doesn't take the news well.