The Errand
Prompt: Domestic (SessKag monthly prompt)
Universe: Modern all human AU
Genre: Humour
1,541 Words
Kagome clutched the folder closer to her chest as she walked down the street. She stole a quick glance at the navigation app on her phone to make sure she was still heading in the right direction, then peered at the houses lining the street.
This wasn't something she'd signed up for when she had gone to work this morning. The last she'd checked, faculty secretary wasn't synonymous with errand girl.
Yet here she was, hauling paperwork across the city, all for one single personalised seal.
Although, to be frank, it wasn't really the trip across the city Kagome was objecting to.
The real reason why she was so disgruntled by this unexpected task was having to bother Professor Taishou at home – and on a day he'd called in sick!
Kagome was a friendly person and though she hadn't been working in the faculty of Medicine at Tokyo University for long, she'd already grown close with her primary colleagues and was on great terms with all the other staff.
Except for Professor Taishou, who made no effort whatsoever to get along with anyone. Therefore, Kagome wasn't on chatting terms with Professor Taishou as she was with most of the other staff.
She barely knew him at all.
Every interaction she'd had with him so far had been brief and coolly professional.
He was intimidating and had piercing eyes that unnerved her. He was always impeccably groomed; he wore smart suits and never had a hair out of place.
Kagome had gleaned that Professor Taishou was a very important and prominent person in the field of immunology.
In fact, he was one of the foremost researchers in Japan according to the faculty gossip. Kagome readily believed it – to her Professor Taishou seemed aware of his own self-importance and she knew he devoted most of his time to his research.
That was what had brought her here today after all: a funding proposal for his latest research that needed to be sent out today so as not to miss the deadline.
The document had been ready for mailing, seals and all, when Kagome had noticed a typo with two of the dates and so the proposal had needed to go through a last minute edit.
And now Professor Taishou would need to stamp his name seal onto the new and improved proposal. Only, he had chosen today of all days to call in sick – something that, the astonished office gossip had informed her, he'd never done before.
Of course, it had befallen Kagome to bring the funding proposal over to Professor Taishou.
Kagome's steps slowed.
According to her navigation app, she had arrived at her destination.
The white house didn't look much different from the others flanking it, but Kagome was now gripping the folder so tightly her knuckles had grown white.
Kagome found Professor Taishou scary and pitied the students who'd attend the one or two classes per year that Professor Taishou deigned to teach. The poor youths must be trembling in their seats because even Kagome in her position as a faculty secretary never failed to feel vaguely inadequate when in the presence of Professor Taishou.
So this situation, her having to disturb him in his own home while he was ill, was far from ideal.
Go on, Kagome told herself, staring at the house. Get it over with. You have plenty of work waiting at the faculty. Go in, get the seal and get out.
Kagome drew a fortifying breath, then strode to the door and rang the doorbell.
She fidgeted nervously, her anxiety spiking as she heard shuffling from inside, moving closer.
Then, the door was pulled open and the world stopped.
Kagome still held the folder to her chest but her grip had slackened; her eyes had widened in shock and her mouth just might have fallen open. She closed it so quickly her teeth clicked together.
The man who'd opened the door showed only a passing resemblance to the scary and perfectly groomed Professor Taishou that Kagome knew from work.
His hair was tousled, his jeans – jeans! – looked worn and frayed, and the cold sharp look was gone from his eyes, leaving him looking harried.
Even harder to reconcile with the image she'd constructed of the arrogant professor was the ladle he was holding in one hand, the apron he was wearing over his faded t-shirt and worn jeans – and the sniffling toddler propped on his hip.
Flustered, Kagome realised she'd been staring and cleared her throat.
"I, uhm… I'm so sorry I'm disturbing you at such a bad time– "
"Do come in, Miss Higurashi, and spare me from your apologies," Professor Taishou cut in.
Kagome swallowed and just barely managed not to flinch.
Ah, there he is. Scary even in this seemingly domesticated state.
Wary but curious – especially about the adorable toddler – Kagome stepped in.
"You seem to have the matter the wrong way around," Professor Taishou muttered while Kagome removed her shoes. "I'm the one who's inconveniencing you, forcing you to come all this way."
"Ah no, it's all right," Kagome hurried to reassure him and looked up.
Their eyes met and the silence stretched because despite the reassurances Kagome had offered for the sake of being polite, it was a huge inconvenience for her to interrupt her workday for this – and the look he was giving her made clear that Professor Taishou knew that too.
Kagome bit her lip, feeling even more uncomfortable about the whole situation than before, which was no small feat.
Thoroughly discomfited both by the silence and Professor Taishou's overly casual appearance – and also to a degree by the toddler still on his hip, no longer sniffling but peering curiously at Kagome – she ploughed ahead, wanting to escape the house as quickly as possible.
"The proposal is all ready and proofread, so there are no typos this time. I just need you to stamp on your personalised name seal before I can mail it," Kagome said as she fumbled with her folder, ready to pull out the printed document.
"Let me go get the seal so you may go back to work, Miss Higurashi, I'll be – damn it!"
Professor Taishou hurried off, toddler and ladle in tow.
Kagome blinked and spent a few long seconds staring after him, before she, too, caught the faint angry hiss of a pot boiling over. After a moment of hesitation, she set aside the folder and followed after him.
She found him in the kitchen, grimly lifting a furiously steaming kettle off the stove.
"Porridge ready?" the toddler asked, straining her neck so she could look into the kettle.
"Not quite. The porridge will take some time to cook so you need to be patient, Rin," Professor Taishou replied, his voice calm even as he glowered at the kettle and the stove.
"Everything all right?" Kagome asked hesitantly, feeling very much like an intruder.
"Yes, I suppose this is salvageable," Professor Taishou intoned, then slanted a quick glance at Kagome. "The whole hassle with the funding proposal and all, I forgot I had just put the kettle on to make Rin some rice porridge. Perhaps I've caught Rin's bug, I'm not usually this scatterbrained."
"Everyone has off days and you obviously have your hands full right now," Kagome told him, hoping to put him at ease.
Still, before today she would've had a hard time believing that Professor Taishou would have an off day at all – let alone that she would bear witness to one.
Then again, this morning she hadn't even been aware that Professor Taishou had a daughter.
She'd learned more about him in the span of minutes than she'd had in the past few months, all because of running one errand.
She looked at Professor Taishou and found him looking at her. Their gazes met and held and slowly, so slowly, the corners of Professor Taishou's lips curved up.
Kagome's breath caught.
She'd never seen him smile before.
Certainly not at her!
It transformed his whole being, made him appear softer, much more approachable.
Of course, the adorable girl attached to his side like a barnacle and beaming at her also helped to make Professor Taishou seem less scary.
"Well, I think I've kept you long enough. Let me get my name seal and the inkpad," he said.
"Oh, right! I'll grab the papers and then I'll get out of your hair," Kagome replied, hurrying back to the entrance where she'd left her folder.
A short moment later Professor Taishou's seal was fixed on the paper, the red ink of the small circle gleaming.
"Thank you, Miss Higurashi, for going through the trouble. And for catching the erroneous dates in the first place."
"Happy to help," Kagome replied, smiling. "Sorry again for bothering you at home, I hope Miss Rin will get better soon."
"Thank you again. Goodbye, Miss Higurashi."
"Bye, Professor Taishou, I'll see you at work!"
The door closed.
Kagome clutched at her folder and started to walk back towards the train station, her mind still processing the whole interaction.
She wasn't sure yet what to make of this odd encounter with Professor Taishou today, but one thing was for certain. She was no longer afraid of him.