Café

Inu-Tenshi

No character I use from Inuyasha belongs to me.

"Knowing is not enough; we must apply.

Willing is not enough; we must do."

-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Day 6

She could see the lone form of a young boy sitting on the bench. Then she watched as two other boys walked up to him. They seemed to converse for a while, but for whatever reason, it soon turned out to be a fight. The girl watched in silent fascination as the two older boys fell, wriggling in pain. The younger boy turned to walk away. The girl ran after him.

"Hey!" she shouted, waving her hands in the air. "Wait for me!"

He paid her no heed, and continued to trudge across the snow covered ground. His back was slouched and he had an aura of loneliness about him. The girl huffed in annoyance, but had no intention of giving up. As she neared, she stopped about ten feet away from him, watching his back as he continued to walk. She started to run, bracing herself for the impact that was to come. She jumped.

The boy felt a heavy weight on his shoulders as arms encircled his neck. He tried to pry her off but to no avail. A handkerchief dangled in front of him. "Take it," the girl offered.

The boy ignored her. Finally, he gave an inconspicuous sigh and walked on, this time with the girl still hanging onto him. Over and over she insisted that he take the handkerchief, but there was no reaction from the boy. He only stared straight ahead.

The girl decided she had had enough and released her hold on him. Thinking she had given up, the boy continued to walk, somewhat disappointed. Then he felt himself being pushed back from the front. He looked down.

"Hey! I told you to take the stupid hanky!" The girl glared at him.

The boy stared at her, clearly startled. Once he saw her face, he almost smiled. She looked ridiculously cute trying to intimidate him. This time, the girl wouldn't take no for an answer. She stood on her toes, waving the handkerchief in the air, trying to reach him.

This time, he did smile, and as he did, he bent down to the girl's level. The girl stopped trying to reach him. She tilted her head to the side, curious, then shrugged and cleaned the boy's face with her handkerchief. When she was done, she beamed at him, and he gave her a pat on the head before leaving.

Kagome rubbed her eyes. That was strange. She was pretty sure it had happened before. She blinked a few times, trying not to fall asleep again. The clock read 9:00. Kagome yawned, then paused and turned back to look at the clock. Her lips parted in surprise. She jumped out of bed, changing hurriedly and rushed into the bathroom, combing her hair with her left hand and brushing her teeth using her right.

She rushed out of the house, not even bothering to have breakfast.

The glass door opened, banging loudly against the wall. Startled, Kouga and Sesshoumaru turned to look at an out of breath Kagome. Her chest was rising and falling with every intake of air. "Sorry I'm late!"

Kouga chuckled. "Don't worry Kagome, we wouldn't open the café without you."

Kagome smiled in relief. "Thanks."

She felt Sesshoumarun staring at her and looked up. "Morning." She greeted casually with a nod, then looked away, not noticing the nod Sesshoumaru returned. She walked around him into the kitchen, her heartbeat speeding up at an unhealthy rate.

Since yesterday, Kagome had been finding it increasingly difficult to be near him or to even look at him. Every time he spoke, she couldn't think right. Every time he moved, she couldn't breathe properly.

Even when she had knocked on his door to retrieve her luggage the day before, she had avoided his eyes.

Kagome decided to go to Sesshoumaru's house one last time. After all, her luggage was still there. When she was sure Sesshoumaru had gotten off work and returned home, she walked until she reached his house and rang the bell.

She waited.

Finally, after some time, the door opened to reveal Sesshoumaru. The lower half of his body was clad in nothing but a towel and water fell from his hair, creating tiny puddles on the floor. Kagome looked away.

"Umm... is it okay if I go in to get my things?" she asked, staring at the ground.

Again, Sesshoumaru allowed her entrance into his house. As fast as possible, Kagome gathered her things from the room she had stayed at for two nights and wrote a quick note to Sesshoumaru.

Before she left, she attached the note to his fridge with a magnet. "Thanks for everything," it read.

As she walked past Sesshoumaru and out the door, she bowed and said with a smile, "Goodnight."

"Kagome... ... ... Kagome!" Kouga shouted.

Kagome blinked and turned to look at him. "What is it?"

"You're spilling the coffee." He sighed. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing. Sorry." She had been troubled since yesterday, he noticed.

"Let me get that." Kouga took the tray from her and served the customers in her place.

Sesshoumaru watched the whole exchange between Kouga and Kagome, paying no attention to Narumi's frustrated yells until a customer left angrily.

"What are you doing?" he asked her in a hard voice.

Narumi didn't seem to be intimidated. "What? He started it. He was being unreasonable," she told him defiantly.

"The customer is always right." Sesshoumaru told her for the fifth time that day.

"Okay, I get it." Narumi repeated what she had said every time she was told that. "By the way, what's wrong with Kagome? She's acting strange."

Sesshoumaru gave her no reply. "Waiter!" someone called. He walked over.

"Forget Kagome, what's wrong with you?" she muttered.

Note:

To clear things up, Sesshoumaru never told Kagome his name and she never thought about asking because they had too much fun together and forgot about everything else. When he was younger, he looked a lot like Inuyasha. Then, when Kouga and Kagome met Inuyasha in highschool, Kagome mistook him for her childhood friend. Because they got separated along the way for a few years, Kagome found that Inuyasha looked like the younger boy she had played with, therefore, she pinpointed him as that boy. Kouga already knew long ago that it had been Sesshoumaru they use to always bug, but he thought that Kagome had known it was Sesshoumaru, so he never said anything and she never asked.

And no, Narumi will not end up with Kouga OR Inuyasha. First of all, Kouga's too loyal to Kagome for that to happen and secondly, Inuyasha's with Kikyo in this story. So... too bad for her, I guess.

I will not be updating the next chapter until August 11-12. The reason for that is because I will be going to Washington. I guess you can see why this chapter was later and probably shorter than usual. I was busy preparing for the trip. (:

Until then,

Inu-Tenshi