TA-DAH! The long overdue update of Healing is here! Thank you all for the reviews and favorites and everything! I have been so lost as to how I want this story to go and I am still lost. I'll figure it out eventually though. Well, I hope you like it. I will update "Kryptonite" next
"I've never done anything like this before. I'm a little scared."
"I'm nervous too, but I think everything will be okay."
"You sure?"
". . .yeah. Yeah. I am. Just . . . just make sure you hold on real tight to me."
Iesha's POV
"YOU DID WHAT?"
My sister practically jumped out of her seat when I told her that I had invited Sesshoumaru and Koga over for the BBQ the next day.
"Shhh!" I sternly hushed my sister, "Gabby's trying to sleep." I nodded my head towards the backseat, where my daughter calmly slept in her booster chair.
"Sorry," Imani replied with a rude tone. "Why would you invite them anyways? He was so rude."
"Who?"
"The taller one with the silver hair. Seshmaru or whatever his name is."
"Sesshoumaru?"
"Yeah him."
"Because we're old friends. He, I and Koga all used to hang out at the Kennedy Heights Rec Center sometimes after school."
"Then how come I've never seen them before. Was all this when I lived in Philly with Dad?"
"Yep. But you're wrong. You have seen them before."
"When?"
"Okay, do you remember when you and Daddy came up that year to spend Christmas with me and Mama?"
"Yeah."
"And Mama made me and you participate in the Christmas pageant?"
"Yeah."
"You remember that little boy with the short silver hair who passed out on stage?" Imani looked away with a thoughtful expression on her face. After a few seconds, her face turned into an expression of amusement. Both her mouth and eyes widened and her hands flew up to her chest.
"Oh my God! That was him?"
"Yep."
"Aw, duuude. No way. No way did that little boy grow up to be the douche that I met today. No fucking way." I chuckled at my sister's reaction.
"Yes way. And he's not a douche, Imani. He's just a very cool cucumber."
"Who has turned into a sour pickle."
"Speaking of which, I saw you staring at his pickle today." Almost immediately after I made the joke, Imani acquired a very defensive demeanor.
"I was not! I never once stared at his crotch! Why would you say something like that?"
"Be quiet!" I firmly reminded my emotional sibling. "If you wake your niece, then YOU are going to be the one who puts her to bed tonight." My twin let out a defeated sigh and slouched down in her seat, reminiscent of how she used to react whenever one of our parents scolded her as an adolescent.
"My bad," she said in a huffy tone, "but still, I was not looking at . . . that." I giggled at her denial.
"You were too and don't deny it. I was looking at it too so I know you couldn't have missed it."
"Why did he feel the need to wear pants that tight? Probably choked his balls to death."
"Eh, I'm pretty sure those were regular fitting pants, Imani."
"Oh whatever. I don't care anyways. Why are we even talking about the man's dick to begin with? You are such a freak."
"Maybe. But I am much less of a freak than you are a prude." The younger twin became even more defensive.
"What?" she hissed in a loud whisper, "I am NOT a prude okay. I just have more standards than you when it comes to men. Just because I'm choosy when it comes to guys doesn't mean that I'm like . . . like a nun or something." I sighed deeply.
"Imani, no man meets your criteria. Absolutely none! I mean he could be as rich as Bill Gates, as smart as Stephen Hawking, as athletic as Deion Sanders, as deadly as Bruce Lee, as caring as Michael Jackson, as funny as Dave Chappelle, as powerful as the president, as talented as Prince, and as sexy as Jude Law and you STILL would find something wrong with him."
"I would not. I just haven't found a man with all of those qualities yet."
"What about Haruki?" As usual, the mere mention of her ex caused her to roll her eyes.
"What about Haruki?"
"I don't know why you broke up with him. Haruki was a sweetie pie and he was a hard worker."
"It just didn't work out for us. We still talk every now and then, but there just wasn't any sparks. I didn't feel anything when I kissed him."
"I understand. You gotta have passion for a man in order for the relationship to work out."
"Yeah. My sentiments exactly ." A big grin spread across my face.
"Hmmm, I guess you're not such a prude after all. Now if we could just get rid of those cobwebs . . ."
Imani's POV
"Ooo, yum! I didn't know that you guys were friends with Sesshoumaru Taisho! He's an NFL quarterback for Kami sake! How in the hell do you guys know him?" I briefly stopped setting out plates to glare at my overly enthusiastic best friend. Iesha and I had met my best friend, Scarlett, and her best friend, Roxy, during pledge week in our freshman year at Hanyou Tech. All four of us eventually got accepted into the Delta Phi Alpha sorority and ended up being suitemates. We remained suitemates until graduation. After graduation, Iesha, Scarlett and I all decided to stay in North Carolina while Roxy decided to move back home to Nevada to pursue her Masters at a school closer to where she grew up. However, she always comes back here to vacation with us for the summer.
"Damn, Scarlett, I should really take offense to that. I can't be friends with a pro athlete?"
"Sorry," the light brown skinned, fire engine red haired fox demon embarrassedly giggled. I giggled too and shook my head.
"Anyways, Iesha's the one who's friends with him. I just happen to know him by mistake."
"Know him by mistake? You say that like it's a bad thing. How could it be a mistake to know Sesshoumaru Taisho?" The dreamy look in my friend's eyes as she stared across the yard at the dog demon made me want to gag. Seriously, what do these girls see in him?
"Just ignore her Scarlett," I heard my twin sister say as she suddenly came up beside me. "She's still mad because she and Sesshoumaru almost got into it yesterday."
"Almost got into it?" the kitsune demon inquired?
"Yeah, Imani. Iesha told me how you almost played rock 'em sock 'em robots with ol' boy the other day," Roxy, a horse demon with big brown eyes and shoulder length brown hair, chimed in.
"Well can you blame me? I bet if he had talked to you the same way he talked to me, you would have been upset too." She shrugged her shoulders.
"Maybe. But I would have made sure to take him home and give him a spanking as punishment." She winked. I widened my eyes in horror.
"What is wrong with you guys? All y'all ever think about is sex. Geez."
"Nothing wrong with that. A dick a day keeps the doctor away." I cocked my head to the side and gave her a look as if to say 'are-you-kidding'?
"Really, Roxy? Really?" Roxy began to laugh loudly before taking a sip of the Budweiser in her hand.
"I'm just kidding, Imani. I'm not that much of a loose booty." I smirked as I continued to set out the plastic eating utensils.
"Well, I hope not anyways."
"But you really need to stop being such a prude. When's the last time you had sex anyway?"
"I'm not even about to answer that, Roxy."
"She hasn't had sex since Bush was in office," Iesha joked. Roxy laughed.
"Since Dubbya? Really?"
"No, girl. Since George H.W. Bush was in office." My sister and the olive skinned horse demon began to crack up at the less than funny joke. Scarlett put a hand over her mouth, trying to contain her own laughter. I narrowed my eyes at her and her face became apologetic.
"Aww, don't be mad, Imani. It was pretty funny you know." I shook my head.
"No, it wasn't. It wasn't funny in the least." I turned from my friends and sister and continued to set up for the BBQ while they still rumbled with laughter. I could feel people's eyes staring at us, since the heifers were so loud that the Space Station probably heard them. I could feel my face begin to heat up with embarrassment. I hated being the center of attention and hanging with the Three Stooges didn't help my mystique at all. One person in particular that was checking the scene out was the silver haired idiot himself. He was still sitting at the folding table by the brown fence with his friend, Koga. His eyebrow was cocked and he looked like he was both curious and annoyed. No doubt with his supposedly super hearing, he heard what Roxy and Iesha had said. He didn't seem to be too angry though . . . not that I really cared to be honest. I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked over it to see that it was my sister. She had stopped laughing but the amused expression still hadn't left her face.
"I'm sorry, but in all seriousness, you have got to stop being so uptight. You need to learn how to just live. I just want you to be happy, that's all." I could tell that she was serious. My sister had a funny way of showing love. She would tease you until you couldn't take it anymore and then go all deep on you. That's Iesha for you. I patted her hand that was on my shoulder.
"Don't worry about me. Really, I'm fine."
"Really?"
"Yeah. I am."
"Then prove it to me." I raised my eyebrows at her.
"What? What do you mean, prove it to me?" Iesha smiled slyly as she placed an ice cold bottle of water in my hand. She tilted her head toward Sesshoumaru and Koga's table.
"Sesshoumaru looks kind of thirsty over there. Maybe you should –uhh – bring him something to drink?" I looked at her in disbelief.
"What are you talking about? He has a beer in his hand. Quit trying to set me up."
"Just go talk to him, Imani. I'm sure you guys would hit it off quite nicely." I looked over at him as he continued to talk to his tan friend.
"I don't think he wants to be bothered. Looks like they're having a good conversation."
"Girl, would you just go over there!" I sighed deeply. I knew that my sister wasn't going to leave me alone until I at least talked to the guy. I really was not looking forward to hearing her mouth all day. I gave up. I rounded the table and began to walk over to the table, the soft winds whipping my hair and the baby blue sundress I was wearing. Why am I doing this? He's just going to be the same asshole today that he was before. Koga and Sesshoumaru instantly stopped talking when I stopped at the table. Koga looked up and smiled but Sesshoumaru ignored me like I wasn't there. Just as I thought.
"Hello, Imani," the wolf demon greeted me. I smiled back.
"Hi, Koga. Hi, Sesshoumaru."
"Imani." Seriously, what the hell kind of greeting is that? I mean, I know that we aren't friends, but you're still a guest at my home. Still, I tried my best to hide my emotions behind my smile. After all, Iesha wouldn't steer me wrong, would she? Would she?
"Excuse me, Koga, but could I steal Sesshoumaru away from you for just a few minutes?" Koga looked at Sesshoumaru, then back at me. His smile grew.
"Sure, no problem." He got up from the chair. "I was just about to fix me a plate anyways. Not to mention that I haven't took – I mean – talked to Iesha yet." He winked at me before heading over to the table where my sister and friends were still gossiping. I sighed again before sitting down across from the dog demon. He tried his best to ignore me as he fidgeted with the Blackberry in his hands. I rolled my eyes before I began to speak.
"Oh, here you go." I handed him the bottled water. "I figured you might be thirsty since you've been drinking beer all day. Didn't want you to dehydrate out here." He stared at me for a few seconds before accepting the drink."
"Thanks."
"No problem." I stared at him while he opened it and took a few sips. I had to admit, he wasn't bad looking. Long, silver hair; a nice physique; dressed nicely in an orange striped polo shirt with fitted, dark denim jeans and crisp, white sneakers. In fact, he was quite handsome, to tell the truth, but his attitude made him less attractive to me. After he finished his drink he thanked me again before returning his attention to the Blackberry. "So . . . how do you like being a professional athlete so far?"
"It is what it is."
"Meaning?" He looked up at me with a stoic expression.
"Meaning that it has benefits and it has drawbacks. Just like any other profession." I chuckled.
"Yeah, like any other profession that pays millions of dollars every year. Must be nice."
"The money isn't everything."
"Perhaps not. But still, I'd take your job over mine any day."
"Which is?"
"I work at a nursery downtown. I'm one of the caregivers there." He took another sip of water. He stared at me intensely, which kind of unnerved me."
"But I take it that you like your job?" I smiled softly.
"Yeah, I kinda do."
"Interesting." I cocked an eyebrow.
"What do you mean by that?" He closed out of the Blackberry and set it on the table. His golden eyes remained locked on my brown ones.
"It's just that you don't seem like you'd work at a nursery."
"And why is that?"
"Well – don't get offended by this, but – you seem like you'd be more into a job like . . . law enforcement. In fact, I honestly expected you to tell me that you were a cop." This had better be the beer talking. I could feel myself beginning to tense up.
"How do I remind you of a cop, Sesshoumaru?" He cleared his throat.
"Well, you are obviously in shape –"
"Thank you."
"You also seem like the authoritative type and you seem to have some sort of chip on your shoulder. Most cops are like that." I narrowed my eyes at him.
"So . . . are you trying to say, that you think I'm hard. You don't think I'm soft?"
"Well, I wouldn't have put it exactly like that . . . but . . . yeah. Judging by how you acted at the grocery store the other day and how upset you're getting now, yeah. I don't think you're soft at all."
"Oh, listen at you. Talking like you're any better than me. I wasn't arguing with myself at the grocery store."
"That was not an argument. That was a tantrum by you. You simply got pissed off because I mistook your identity for your sister's. It was a simple mistake. You didn't need to get so worked up about it."
"Are you kidding me? You essentially called me an idiot, because I did not know who you were."
"No, I called you dim."
"Same thing!"
"It is not the same thing, by any means." I banged my hand on the table.
"You know what? I don't even know why I listened to my sister and tried to talk to you. She must not know how stubborn and arrogant you really are."
"Oh, I think she has an idea, considering that she's related to you."
"Oh, whatever!" I jumped from my seat and stormed back over to where I had originally been. Scarlett looked concerned, Roxy looked amused, and Iesha looked as if she had expected me to return upset. She sighed.
"Why did you two get into it again?" she asked.
"Because your friend is an ass!" I said, grabbing myself a plate of food and storming into the house. I could hear my sister sigh again before I slammed the patio door.
A/N: Definitely not love at first sight lol.