Part 2
"So? Oh no, the all-powerful Tai-Yoikai, Sesshomaru-sama, is going to break my poor defenseless heart by sitting in my spot on the couch, boo-hoo." Kagome threw up her empty hand up for emphasis and rolled her eyes.
He smirked even more, "No, that's way too simple. No, I'm going to mess with you're sleep too. By making you sleep with me."
Suddenly, silence overtook the room. Kagome looked at him loathingly, trying to discern if he was telling the truth. As it dawned over her, her frown faded, turning towards fright, and she tried, again in vain, to jerk away from his grasp, only to have him tighten again and smirk even more deviously.
"You're going to WHAT?!" She half-shouted in a panicked voice, her voice heading toward a higher pitch with each syllable.
Chapter 5
"Not I'm going to, you're going to sleep with me, seeing as you thought it was so funny to deprive me of a rare nap." Sesshomaru said in a slow and deliberately calming voice, trying to calm the shakes that were coming from the panicking woman in front of him. He didn't expect that kind of response, maybe one of anger and loathing, like the first response she had, but the fear, the panic, he had forgotten, "You can watch TV and read or whatever, but you are sleeping here and that's final."
"Why?" She asked in a child-like voice, seeming to come out of her panic and head towards the anger that was building in her chest.
"I just told you why." He said and moved further up on the bed, his hand still holding her arm and causing her to move onto it with him.
"No, I meant, why... why would you want to sleep with me?" She asked inquisitively, deciding that since she couldn't leave with him there, she could make him as uncomfortable and miserable as she was.
He was silent for a moment and she smirked, but it faded when he glared at her, "I will not answer such a ridiculous question. You already know why you're sleeping with me."
"Don't I have a choice?" She spat angrily, watching as he tossed the remote to her from atop his pillow and shrugged further into the covers.
He smirked at her question and closed his eyes, letting her hand go when she had gotten under the other side of the bed sheets, "No."
She eyed him suspiciously and was watching him when he suddenly spoke again.
"And don't even think of leaving during the night. I may be asleep, but I will hear and smell you leave, and I will bring you back as many times as I need to." He smirked as he heard a puff of breath and a murmur from her. "And I will restrain you if need be." He added when the TV came on a moment later.
O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O
Hours later, Kagome settled in for bed and clicked off the TV, having already tried to escape and being brought swiftly back. She had considered trying it again, this time locking her door to her room, but decided against it, seeing as he probably had the key to her room anyway and would probably break down the door if he didn't, not to mention lock her up in his room. And she was more afraid of that happening then anything else, so she just frowned and sighed loudly, hoping to get a ruse out of him, but he just swung his hand over her waist and she shut up, removing the hand and turning around, sleep overcoming her.
O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O
"Breakfast..." She murmured as the scent of frying bacon and eggs overloaded her sense of smell. Groaning loudly, she got up and stretched her arms, noticing that Sesshomaru was still fast asleep beside her.
Hoping for more revenge and shrugging off the thought of him doing something worse to her, she smiled widely and yawned. Getting up from the bed, she crawled over to his side and, after discerning that he seemed still slightly asleep, jumped on top of him, her knees on each side of his chest and yelled, "TIME FOR BREAKFAST, SESS-" But didn't get to finish.
"What, exactly, were you trying to accomplish with that scream when I was right beside you?" Said the companion that was previously underneath her. Somehow, right when she had screamed in his face, he had gotten her from on top of him, to under and now she was looking up at him, her long ebony hair seeming to tangle in with his silvery locks as he glared at her from above.
His eyes icy and his face contorted with anger, Sesshomaru breathed deeply and focused on the human underneath him. Wondering where the strange anger had come from, he fought it back, controlling his features to one of mild surprise and looked into the eyes of the prey under him. Finally, the anger disappeared and he stared into the face below him, wondering if the anger was on his or her sake.
A breath away from his face, she opened her mouth to say something and decided against it, this morning Sesshomaru seemed way too unpredictable for her comfort. Wrists locked in his hands, she tried to escape from the hold, ignoring his comment completely.
Suddenly, as quickly as the blink of an eye, he released his hold of her and straitened up, massaging his shoulders and bathing in the sunlight from the window behind his bed, still resting on her stomach. Annoyed, Kagome pushed herself up by her elbows and cleared her throat, hoping that he would get off of her and allow her to change into some decent, un-slept in clothes.
He smirked again and was about to refuse when he remembered the food waiting downstairs and quickly headed towards the bathroom, taking a quick shower and putting on a black suit and tie for work.
Kagome, after also taking a shower, washed her hair and put it in a half bun, the rest of it curling down to her back. Putting on a light pink button-down and a black knee-long pencil skirt, she headed downstairs with her high-heels in her hand.
Heading downstairs, she massaged her temples with her free hand and dangled the heels in the other. The smell of bacon, eggs and waffles suddenly hitting her as if a brick wall, making her close her eyes and breathe in the wonderful smell.
As she opened her eyes, she came upon a scene of utter chaos, Inuyasha in a chokehold by Sesshomaru and Miroku cowering under the glare and finger of Sango. Laughing lightly, she placed herself at one of the unoccupied seats and was about to begin eating when she looked up and noticed that the fighting had ended and all were gazing at her. All except a suspicious looking Tai-Yoikai, who was looking rather unlike himself, his eyes seeming to focus only on a spot on the table as if there was a microscopic animal that interested him more than life itself.
Only when Sango cleared her throat reproachfully did the others snap out of their strange stares and began eating their food and talk about nothing in particular, Inuyasha going on and on in particular about how wonderful the weather seemed and how he was going to go out as soon as breakfast was over.
"Okay, stop. What's going on?" Kagome said after noticing that everyone was still acting peculiar, avoiding her gaze completely.
"Oh! Nothing at all, Kagome-san." Sango said in a high pitch before the others could say anything.
Shrugging it off again, everything went normal again and breakfast continued and ended with no other strangeness.
Until the evening, as she was clearing up her desk after a long talk to Sesshomaru's father about the labor costs and how she agreed with him that the company had much work to do to, Inuyasha approached her, Kikyo in tow, and asked her about his father. She was about to answer when Kikyo interrupted and asked bluntly, "Did you really sleep with him?"
"Sleep with who?" Kagome asked, puzzled by the frankness but also by the sudden, uniqueness of the question, Sesshomaru completely out of her mind.
"Sesshomaru!" Kikyo said with a smirk and a laugh, "You know, the one who's usually so rude and obnoxious? The almighty Sesshomaru, done in by a freeloading, sonofabitch who can't even take care of her own man." She threw her hands up and fell melodramatically into Inuyasha's arms, who was looking ironically like an apologetic dog on a short leash, "I'm so glad I got out of that house that day. I wouldn't want to hear you're pathetic screams of exstac-"
"Shut up, you bitch!" Kagome yelled fiercely, her eyes ablaze with hatred for the woman in front of her. Her arms automatically became fists and when Kikyo cackled again, she grabbed her new opponents hand and flung her from Inuyasha's hold.
A trickle of blood escaped from the cut above Kikyo's eye as she got up from the desk she was thrown into. She got up, glaring at her fist-drawn adversary and drew her hair into a bun, she was going to kill Kagome for messing with her face. Hair secure, Kikyo grabbed hold of a stapler, the first thing in her reach, and tossed it at the miko, all the while waiting for an open.
Dodging it, Kagome ran up to her and punched her straight in the stomach, causing Kikyo to double over and clutch her stomach. Quick to her feet, Kikyo looked at the now frightened and confused Inuyasha, yelling at him to do something to help her. Remembering what had happened in the kitchen, Inuyasha shook his head and tried to think of another option, also not wanting the fight to be unfair or unreasonable.
Another punch flew, Inuyasha knew not from whom it came from, and he watched, helplessly as the two girls circled. Kikyo throwing a punch, Kagome dodging. Kagome kicking low, Kikyo moving out of the way. The uncalled-for fight ended abruptly when a voice was heard.
"Stop." And the seemingly courageous and authoritative voiced man grabbed hold of one of their hands, Kagome's, gently, and she slowly unclenched her fist, fire slightly receding from her eyes, "Back-off." He whispered loud enough for Kikyo to hear, and she looked at him loathingly and left, Inuyasha now in her tow.
Powerful hands gripping her waist and wrist, Kagome turned her head away from his and looked at the ground, her cheeks a fiery red from the fight and her breath slowing from the lost adrenaline.
"You had no reason to fight outside my office," He said, his golden orbs focusing on the sunset outside the glass wall as he let her go and walked to her desk.
"Yes I did, Sesshomaru. You heard her, I know you did." Kagome said, sounding like an stubborn and annoyed young child who had just gotten her favorite toy taken away.
"There will be no fighting in this building. Pack your things."
"Are you firing me?!"
He chuckled lightly, his voice dropping a note and his eyes turning towards her, "No, why would I do that?"
A silence came, as if just a stranger passing by and lingering enough to cause worry, and Kagome packed up her stuff, under the curious eye of Sesshomaru, and they walked to the elevator, music drowning the unwanted guest.
They reached the parking valet and Sesshomaru asked them to get his car, saying that he would take Kagome home instead of the probably busy Sango. Nodding, she entered the car and he dismissed his driver, saying he would rather drive today.
Looking out the window, Kagome fiddled with a loose string on her purse and watched as cars passed them. Thinking, she sighed and turned toward him, knowing he would answer truthfully.
"At the dinner table, it was all about us... wasn't it? The choke hold, the arguing... even the silence and strange glaring, it was all about them thinking that I slept with you?"
Staring straightforward, he didn't reply until a couple minutes later and after Kagome had thought he wasn't going to reply at all, "You did sleep with me."
"That's all you're going to-Wait, you made me sleep with you! So don't go saying stuff like that as if it was a two-way decision." She crossed her arms and glared out the window, adding in a whisper, "They all think it was... like something more then that? I mean, you did correct them right?"
He didn't answer right away and she took that as his answer, "You didn't! Why didn't you tell them what really happened?! I mean I'm not some loose cannon ready to sleep with what whoever I see! I bet they think that now I'm going to sleep with every hot guy I-" She stopped suddenly and flushed a light pink, hoping he didn't catch that last part.
He raised a delicate eyebrow and smirked but didn't comment on the phrase, as they had arrived at the house. She quickly got out of the car before he could say anything more and nearly ran into Sango, who was opening the front door for them.
"I saw you coming and I- Oomph!" She said as Kagome knocked into her, rushing into the house and apologizing.
Sesshomaru joining them, the group walked upstairs and Kagome retired to her room, trying to sort out her weeklong dilemma of a made decision and deciding to hit the hay early. After watching a couple shows with Sango, Sesshomaru decided to retire also, leaving Sango alone downstairs, after hearing his brother come in with his 'dog' in hot pursuit.
O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O
"Aww man, how many days more must I endure this cruelty?! I said I was sorry! Can't you let me take a shower in peace?!" Kagome said, coming out of a curiously steam-deficient shower and emerging wet and filled with goose bumps, "I'm going to catch a cold one of these days!" She yelled into the hallway, wrapping her towel around her and glad to run to the warmth of her room.
"You're welcome to come join me." A mysterious voice said as a head popped into her room.
"Hey! I was changing! What if I had been naked when you came bursting in without knocking?"
"Well that's a whole different story altogether." Sesshomaru said while crossing his arms and entering the room.
He smirked without even looking at her, knowing that her silence meant that she had taken his sentence to a whole different level and was probably beetroot red. Sure enough, he turned and saw her looking fiercely at an imaginary spot of dirt on her sleeve and was trying to get it off, along with the blush on her face.
A slight smile crept upon him and wondered how he could be so easy with the woman in front of him. He had been avoiding women ever since the Kagura incident and now he thought he was becoming too familiar with the one in front of him. At the moment, Kagome was talking on about his father and he stared at her, trying to figure out what it was about her that made him so confused. Ignoring her talk, he continued to stare at her and didn't hear her question.
"-so do you think he will be okay with it?" Kagome repeated, thinking that the silence meant a no and she asked for clarification. She finally looked up to his face and noticed that he was staring fixedly at her, annoyed she asked, "Is there something on my face?"
Still staring, Sesshomaru gazed into her eyes, his golden irises reflecting the confusion his face was not portraying, and she noticed something other than anger behind those eyes, but couldn't quite place it, and neither could the confused Yoikai. Raising a clawed arm, Sesshomaru delicately and almost hesitantly stroked the side of Kagome's face, her mouth slightly dropping from confusion and something else too.
"Sesshoma..." Kagome whispered, but the moment ended all too soon, Sesshomaru's eyes going cold and his hand retreating like a light just switched off, his eye's squinting slightly and his confusion receded. Confused, Kagome was about to speak again when he abruptly turned heel and walked out of the door, saying breakfast was to be ready in an 10 minutes.
O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O
"I can't believe the last couple days have passed by so quickly, I'm so glad that my treatment for my burns lasted only 2 days... I think I would have gone crazy!" Sango said excitedly, her plate filled with chicken and rice. She asked for the beans and green peas, "I mean, it's already Friday and look at us! It's as if we have always been like this!"
"Hmph." Inuyasha said moodily, "Seems like some people are getting a bit too comfortable here." Referring to Kagome, who was ironically sitting right beside Sesshomaru on his left, Inuyasha on the opposite head of the table.
"And you'd think you'd shut up about that. You know it was only a stunt, nothing happened. Didn't you learn your lesson yesterday when she beat it out of you for bringing the subject up last time? I mean, can't you ever learn to just stay out of it?" Miroku said with a glare and laughed when he remembered the beating Inuyasha had received the day before.
Flashback
They had been sitting at the table, same as ever, when Inuyasha heard the door ring and brought in his black-eyed partner. Together, they turned the whole subject away from Mr. Taisho and his recommendations about the company to the fight the two girls had had in the office, making the atmosphere thick with a\wanted revenge and anger, soon ending when Kagome kicked ass (almost literally) and had Inuyasha backed into a corner, Kikyo down with a bloody nose.
"Don't you ever talk about me like that! I'm not some bitch like the one you have there!" Kagome had said fiercely, pointing to the down Kikyo.
"Well I'm not the one who slept with him, am I? You expect me to think that he was the only one to want to sleep with you? And that it was just revenge for a couch fight? Oh please!" Inuyasha said as he shoved her out of his face, causing Sesshomaru to stand in-between them, "See! You guys are like a couple, why don't you just admit it!"
"Because nothing happened." Sesshomaru said in an eerily calm voice, eyes focused on Inuyasha, "It does not matter what you think happened, nor will I correct you if you wish to make a fool out of yourself on the subject, but saying she's a whore who deserved to get beat by your servant bitch is not something I will allow in this house. Take her out and leave this room, or do you wish for this to go further?"
"Fine! I can take you on!"
"No! Just leave Inuyasha!" Kagome yelled, now stepping in-between the two brothers.
Clenching his fist, Inuyasha left to his room, Kikyo glaring at the two and eventually following.
End Flashback
"Hey, Kagome?" She nodded. "Hadn't you wanted to tell us something at the end of the week? I mean, with that great report from Sesshomaru's father, I can't imagine anything of greater news! You're the only secretary he's ever come to like, and he's never commented on one before." Sango said thoughtfully, not noticing the flicker of sadness that passed through Kagome.
"Huh? Oh... Thanks. Um... I can tell you guys later. And plus, I'd hate to ruin the whole mood here. Were supposed to be celebrating Sesshomaru's final take over of the company!" She said in a false, cheery voice, stretching it with a forced smile, and avoiding Sesshomaru's gaze altogether.
"Oh you won't dear! We're still celebrating the promotion, I just hate kept secrets, you know that." Sango said cheerfully, her mood making her mistake the hint in Kagome's eyes for something else.
"No, no. I'd rather tell you guys later, okay?"
"Aww, c'mon. Tell us." Inuysha said with a smirk, egging Sango into more pleas to force the secret out. He knew that Kagome was still trying to make her decision to stay and had been tracking her boyfriend ever since his talk with Sesshomaru. Hoping to gain some slight revenge from the lost battle the day before, he sat back and watched as Kagome struggled to keep her smile on her face, Sesshomaru glaring at him but saying nothing.
Finally, it seemed as if she had had enough, and the smile disappeared, causing Miroku to hesitate in his continuous barrage of questions, "Uh... Well, is it bad or something?"
"I already told you that." Kagome replied icily, wanting to leave the table.
Startled by the strange reply, confusion replaced the plain interest on the face of her friends. Confused, but now worried, Sango asked, "What is it? What's wrong?"
Eyes closed to calm herself down, Kagome flinched when she felt the touch of a hand on hers, something she hadn't done since the first days of her stay. Realizing that the touch was from a concerned Sango, she got angrier rather than calmer, thinking irrationally that they were making the situation worse, rather being concerned friends.
"Just stop it! Stop it! I'm not going to tell you so just stop asking!" She yelled, getting up and running up the stairs, tears blurring her vision.
She ran blindly to her room, slamming her door and throwing her self on her bed. Though filled with drama, she had had the best week of her life, and she didn't want it to end! She had ignored threatening emails, visits from her half-sister and cars following her to and from work just to get a lasting feeling of what it was like to be free! She didn't want to go back to the bastard of a boyfriend, and dreaded thinking about the punishment she would get when she got to his house, the one that was no longer her own.
"Why can't they just leave me alone!" She sobbed, her head stuffed into her pillow. She didn't know if she was referring to her friends or her boyfriend and his gang.
Squeezing her eyes shut, as if to block out the world, Kagome eventually wandered into a strange dream, her tears following her there. A tower loomed over her and she cried as she crossed a desolate garden filled with weeds and thorn bushes to go to its door. As she opened it, a gloomy sky turned darker and threatened to rain on her, but somehow she knew it never would.
Wiping her still tearing eyes, Kagome wandered into the dusty first floor and noticed a small room inside, big enough for a living room, but seemed to be all of a house in one. A small cot on one side, the dreary place made her mood even worse, but no tears would come after a while and she sniffled as she went to the burning furnace, a doll sitting underneath it. Then, a staircase appeared, as if conjured in mid air, and she decided to climb it, figuring the dream had to end where the staircase did.
'Just one more step.' She found herself telling herself, as the stairs seemed to be a taking her for miles, even though she could not see outside anymore. Breathing harder now, Kagome began to hear a cackling coming from farther up, but couldn't walk any faster.
Emerging into a cobweb filled room, she coughed as dust gathered up around her as she walked inside. Dirt covered every inch of the old room and a musty smell of an empty and unused room filled her nostrils. Her eyes scouring the room for the source of the cackling that had abruptly stopped, her eyes did a sort of double take, for there was a small round table covered with a tattered table cloth of black and on the chair beside it was what she thought to be a dust covered blanket. She was wrong. Inside, she saw a crinkled and withered hand grasp a glass ball and eyes peered from the blankets depths.
"You're eyes don't deceive you
I am what you thought
An old wrinkled hag
Who knows how you've fought."
"Huh? Um... Okay.. Where am I?"
"An answer you seek
For a question you know
Don't ask silly things
And the faster you'll go."
"I'm in a dream. I got that, but why do I know it?"
The hag didn't answer, frowning as if knowing that the question was another Kagome knew.
"Okay then..." Kagome said and thought about her recent dilemma, "What should I-"
The elder smiled,
"Go and leave them
Go away for a time
And all will get better
So says the Divine."
"Oh. Well, I guess that solves it... Kinda. Is this my mind telling me what I already know? Is this some type of inner self thing?"
The hag cackled again,
"I am a part of you
But not what you think
This is but a dream
And a well played link."
"Oh." Kagome sighed, "Must you talk in riddles all the time? I mean who are you? Oh, lemme guess, that's the wrong-"
"Don't question yourself
You know what to do
Now go and wake up
Someone's looking for you."
"Kagome...Kagome? Kagome!" And Kagome opened her eyes to see the face of Sango, who looked worried and frightened, "Kagome, you were screaming! Were you having a nightmare?"
Blinking, she shook her head no and sat up, realizing that the sun was down and the moon high, "What time is it?"
"It's 11:30. Are you sure everything's fine?"
"Yea, did I wake everyone up?"
"Yea, " Came a voice from the corner and she swiveled her head to see that it was Sesshomaru, though he seemed to have been there a long time, his feet on top of a blanket.
"You could have just called us if you wanted something." Said another voice, and Kagome looked and saw Inuyasha with Kikyo near the door, both in bath robes, beside a smiling Miroku.
"Um... About uh..." Sango said hesitantly. She looked around the room as if for words.
"Don't worry about it Sango, I know you were just being a good friend. You will find out my decision tomorrow, so no need to dwell on the bad things today." She responded before Sango could continue, again avoiding Sesshomaru, and now Inuyasha's, piercing gaze.
"Oh, okay, well then I guess we'll go." Sango said and she and Miroku walked out of the room, followed reluctantly by a struggling Inuyasha and an insistent Kikyo. Lastly, Sesshomaru walked to the door, but instead of leaving, he closed it and sat on the edge of her bed.
"What is your decision Kagome?" He asked on a serious note.
"Can't you just wait until tom-"
"We both know there will be no tomorrow to discuss this, so what is your decision."
"Then you already know my position. My answer." She said angrily, hoping that they could just drop the subject and he could leave, he was only making it harder on her.
"Regardless of what I think, I need to know what your decision is."
"Sesshomaru! Why can't you just leave it!"
"We agreed to have this discussion later, you insisted that we talk about it before, and now I'm insisting, and you will have a harder time changing my mind." He said firmly, his golden eyes piercing hers.
"But you'll tell everyone else!-"
"Do you really believe that this Sesshomaru would betray your trust?" He interrupted fiercely, his voice hard with anger at the thought that that was what was keeping her from telling him.
"No... It's just..."
"Then tell me."
"Geez, I just... Wait, before I say anything, you said you would stand by my decision, right?"
He nodded.
"Then you might as well know. I am taking a bus to his house, Naraku's, and I'm going to stay there. I don't care what he does to me, but he threatened you guys... And I couldn't live if he..."
"Kagome... Why won't you just-"
"No! He will not die because of me! Sure I hate him, but I-I just can't..."
"Fine. But I won't do nothing. I can't let a woman just walk into the arms of an abusing man because she was worried about her friends and not do anything to help."
She chuckled dryly as she said, "You saved my life once, and now you want to do it again..."
Catching a tear on his finger, Sesshomaru looked at her sympathetically and got up to leave.
"Wait." She said in an almost inaudible whisper.
He stopped and turned slightly.
"Could you help me pack?"
He nodded and she began filling her own bag with clothes, silence filling the room.
O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O
The bus came swiftly, its headlights coming too soon for the scared Kagome. Sesshomaru, stiff and quiet, had decided to see her off, refusing to stay home while she walked out, and agreed on one thing, he wouldn't follow the bus in his car.
Watching the bus driver open the doors of the nearly empty bus, she got out her change and fumbled for her backpack, stalling and holding back tears. As she finally got the bag on, she rushed at Sesshomaru, throwing her arms around him and hugged him, his arms at first hesitant, then allowing, until they heard the voice of the bus driver saying that he didn't have all night.
Gently, Sesshomaru pushed Kagome away from the embrace and she nodded, heading towards the bus and sitting down, the doors closing with a final snap. Tears leaking down her face, she looked at where she had just been standing and noticed that Sesshomaru was nowhere to be seen.
O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O
After an hour on the bus, it finally came to a stop and Kagome got off, thanking the driver, and saw her old place down the road, heading towards it with a saddened look and ringing the bell.
The door opened, "Well... lookwhoitis" Said a slurred voice, Naraku's hand clutching an empty beer bottle. He threw it at her and she blocked with her arms, the glass shattering when it hit the floor and cutting her. "Well! Whatare you stanin' dere for? Get me another one!"
She nodded and was shoved into the house. She handed him a beer and watched as he grabbed the phone and dialed a number.
O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O
Okay, so that ends this chapter and the next chapter will come out next week, hopefully! Review!!
