A/N: Hee hee. Thank you Red-Smartiez, kittyb78, and Yuukiyanagi for reviewing. (at the time of writing this) I really appreciate it :). "When Will I See You Smile Again" by New Edition has the perfect lyrics for this chapter, but I'm to lazy to put them on, lol.
So here we finally are at the two part climax of the story. Will Naima and Naraku be able to talk things out?...
"Na-Naima?" Naraku gasped when he opened the door. I gave him a weak smile through the tears that were falling down my face.
"H-Hey, Naraku. Ummm...c-can I come in?" He didn't answer me right away. I was nervous as to what his response would be. After all of the harsh things I had said to him, I wouldn't be suprised if he slammed the door right in my face. Not that I wouldn't deserve it if he did. After a while, Naraku still didn't say anything in reply. He shifted his weight to his other foot and leaned on the doorway with his arms crossed. His posture and expression hinted that he wasn't pleased by my sudden appearance. I probably was the last person that he wanted to see at the moment. I turned my eyes from his piercing gaze and looked down at my hands, which were fidgeting very nervously. "I...I know that I said some pretty bitchy things to you earlier, and I..."
"Naima." Naraku's low voice cut me off in mid sentence. I slowly lifted my head upward to reconnect my eyes with his. Two ruby red jewels still held their nerve wrecking gaze. He sighed deeply. "You and I...we need to talk about some things," he said before turning around and walking back inside. I hesitated for a few seconds more before following him inside and shutting the door behind me. After locking it, I went over to the big, comfortable couch that the boys had and sat down next to Naraku. I stared at him with my hands folded in my lap while he leaned forward with his chin resting on his folded hands, staring into the space in front of him. He was very quiet and had a very thoughtful expression on his face. He stayed like that for a seemingly long time, until one of my sniffles seemed to knock him out of his trance. He slowly turned his head back to me and locked his crimsons on my hazels. He stared into them deeply as if trying to hypnotize me or trying to read my soul. "Naima," he began in a low voice, "do you know why you went off on me this evening?" I shook me head no.
"Well...I guess I was already kind of upset at Sesshoumaru because he walked out on me and you just happened to be the closest one to take my anger out on. I honestly didn't mean to yell at you though or say those horrible things. I guess something within me just snapped."
"Or something on you snapped is a better way to put it." I gave him a really confused look. Something on me snapped? What was he talking about?
"Huh?" I asked, curiousity at high levels.
"I'm talking about your necklace." He sighed deeply. "...a little while back, in fact the day that we all went to the Coney Island Amusement Park, Kikyo told me that ever since middle school, Tsubaki has been putting curses and spells on our relationship with each other. She told me that Tsubaki uses the necklaces that we wear as a catalyst for our negative feelings for each other." I cocked an eyebrow at him, finding this all very strange.
"Curses? On our necklaces?" He nodded his head.
"I know. I know that it sounds a little weird, because I thought it sounded weird when Kikyo told me, but the evidence is very sustancial. Okay, let's just break it down. You don't know this, but during the April before I left Brooklyn those years ago, Tsubaki and I had a talk. Tsubaki was the one who told me about the Shikon Jewel in Japan and insisted that I go away for a while and search for it. Well, on that same day, Tsubaki had mentioned that she thought that my old necklace was getting dirty. So I took it off and gave it to her so she could go to the girl's room and wash it off for me. I don't know what all she did after that, but do you remember any strange things happening to you that day?" Now it was time to have a thoughtful expression as I tried to remember if anything weird happened to me one April day in eigth grade. I couldn't come up with anything...wait a minute.
"Well, I remember that one day during sixth period, I felt something slip around my ankle and bite me, but when I checked for the marks there were none. There wasn't even any blood." He raised his eyebrows slightly.
"Didn't something like that happen to you recently?" I thought about it for a few seconds.
"Now that you mention it, yeah. That day on the football field when we were searching...for your necklace." I gasped and threw my hands to my mouth. Naraku was right. "You are serious!" He nodded his head.
"Yep and since Yura broke that new gold necklace, that just proved it all. Plus Tsubaki it confessed tonight."
"But why? Why would she do all of that?!" I was beginning to get a little angry.
"Tsubaki said that she placed that curse on us all those years ago because she was in love with me, and as long as you were around, she couldn't have me all to herself. So she placed the curse on my necklace and told me about the Shikon Jewel so I would go away and leave you." My eyes instantly lit up.
"So when you left me that day, it was because of the curse and not because of you. So you really didn't mean to betray me." He became very quiet for again. He got off of the couch and turned to face the wall. I heard a big sigh leave his lips.
"Well, you see. That's the complicated thing about Tsubaki's spell. She claims that her spells can only work if the person being cursed already has those negative emotions deep within their heart. She says that her spells can only enhance emotions and bring them out into the open. They can't create them." I gave him a confused look.
"Well you don't believe her do you?"
"Yeah." He said as he nodded his head. "Yeah, I actually do believe that part. Why? Because of some of the things you said to me tonight while you were under the spell."
"Naraku you know that I didn't mean to call you a half demon and say that you meant nothing to me. I wouldn't ever say anything like that. I like you fine as a half demon and you do mean a lot to me."
"That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about when you called me a liar and cussed me out for breaking the promise I made to you when I said that I would stay if we lost our virginity together." I became really quiet as I stared at his back. He slowly turned around and walked back over to me and sat down. He took my hands into his and stared at me very intensely. "You still resent me for leaving you. Don't you?" I felt a few tears slip out the corners of my eyes as I tried my best to tear away from those intimidating red ones.
"No Naraku I..."
"Naima look at me."
"...I don't resent..."
"I said look at me." His voice was a little more forceful this time. I slowly turned my head until our eyes met again. "Just tell me how you feel," he softly said as he ran a hand down my cheek. "I promise you that I won't be mad or upset. Things can't be any worse than they already are and if we even still have a chance of salvaging our friendship, then we can't rebuild it off of hidden emotions." I shook my head slighty, trying to stiffle my tears because I already knew the answer to his question.
"But Naraku I..."
"Naima." He cut me off again. He cupped my cheeks into his hands and ran a pad of his thumb over my lips. "We are supposed to be best friends. Best friends should be able to tell how they feel without fear of judgement. We can't run from this any longer. Please. Just tell me how you feel." I sniffled again as I allowed my eyes to flutter close. I bit my bottom lip before confessing my true feelings to Naraku.
"Yes. Yes...I still do resent you for walking out on me. And if Tsubaki's curse only brought what you only felt out into the open, then why did you leave me? All these years I've been trying to figure out what I did that was so wrong to made you just want to walk away from me. You didn't even have the decency to say goodbye properly. It was like we didn't even really make love that day. It honestly felt like it was a quick fuck and then you just bounced. If I had not woken up and caught you redressing, you wouldn't had even told me that you were still going to go. I trusted you and you left me hanging. So yes. Yes, I still resent you for leaving me." He listened quietly the whole time I expressed my feelings and nodded occasionally. Then it was his turn to speak.
"You might not think that I made love to you that day, but I did. I truly was in love with you when we did that." He took one of my hands in his and interlocked his fingers with mine. "I loved every minute, every second of that moment. I loved how close we were at that moment, like as if we had melted into one person. Like we were inseparable. So don't think that you were just a quick fix for me, because you weren't. You are the only woman who wasn't ever a quick fix for me. You're the only woman who I've ever truly made love to."
"Then why did you leave me? If you loved me so much, then why did you just walk away and break my heart into a million pieces. Didn't you know how much I needed you? I missed all the things that we used to do together. I missed how you would walk me home from school sometimes and how you were always at my house practically every other night. I missed how we used to do so much stupid stuff together. Like when we used to crank call Daddy at work and he would come home and give both of us whoopings because he knew that we weren't Aquaman and Wonder Woman. Or like when we were inspired to become hairdressers and cut off all of the hair on Tarei's Barbie dolls. Or even when we tried to give that grey pitbull on 14th Street some candy and he chased us all the way to Bankotsu's house." He chuckled a little, remembering how dumb we could be sometimes. "I even missed the small stuff. Like how we used to call each other everyday and stay on the phone for hours, just talking about nothing. Didn't you know how much I missed calling you and talking to you? Those five minute, once a month phone calls from Japan wasn't enough for me. And when you stopped calling me completely, I worried about you all of the time even though Bankotsu would tell me that you were okay. Why, Naraku? Why would you do all of that?"
"All I can say is that I'm sorry, Naima. That's all I can do. If I could take it all back I would, because I know how badly I hurt you. I didn't mean to hurt you Naima, but I know that I did. I can't imagine the amout of pain I caused you."
"No, you can't," I agreed as I stood off of the couch. I was very tapped into my emotions now and I just let it all come out. "You have no idea at all." I briefly reached up and wiped away some of the flowing tears. "You don't know how much it still hurts after almost six years. You don't know how much it hurts to have the one person that you knew that you could count on, not be there when you needed him the most." He gave me a confused and concerned look as he got off of the couch too and stood in front of me.
"What do you mean my dear?"
"Well, when I began high school, things were very hard for me. I wasn't doing very well in school and my social network wasn't all that good either. You see, I needed you around because you were my rock. I wasn't as close to anyone like I was to you, except for my dad and sisters. But Li was gone off to college, Tarei was still a mere fifth grader, and Daddy was working a lot more so he could help put Li through school. So I had no one else to turn to with my deepest emotions that I had only shared with you. Things eventually got better when Sesshoumaru and I became friends in tenth grade, but freshman year was pure hell without you. And then when Daddy died, you weren't there either. I needed you then too. I think both Tarei and I needed you then. But you were nowhere to be found."
"Naima that's not fair. I didn't know that Rashid-San was going to die."
"Neither did we! I mean, it's not like he planned to get into an accident that day. But still, you weren't there for me when I needed you. I guess that's what I resent you the most for. You knew how much Daddy loved you! You knew that he was the one who reunited you with your own father and went to court for you so he would take you in! You knew that even when you were still a foster child, he made sure that your foster parents were always the nicest people! You knew that Daddy loved you like his own son and you weren't even there to say goodbye to him either! You weren't there for me at all when I needed you the most! And even when you found out, you STILL didn't come home!" The tears were falling like rain then. I was shaking and panting hard. I couldn't even bare to look at Naraku anymore as I told him how I really felt. I turned away from him and faced the wall behind me, as I tried to control my tears.
"I know that I wasn't around when Rashid-San passed away, but don't you dare say that I wasn't there for you when you needed me because you know that's a lie."
"Is it really Naraku?"
"Yes it sure the hell is and you know it too. When we were only nine years old and your puppy, Truffles I, ran away from home, who was the one who stayed out all that rainy November night, trying to find him for you and ended up catching pneumonia for it? And when we couldn't find him, who helped Rashid-San find you another black laborador with the same white spot on his chest, so you could have Truffles II? And then when Truffles II got hit by that car, who buried him for you and gave him a proper funeral?" I turned around and looked at him, remembering what all he had done for my two Truffles. "Who was the one who stayed up with you all night in seventh grade, trying to help you finish that big volcanoe project that was worth 50 of our grades? Who was the one who neglected his own volcanoe and ended up getting a D, just so he could make sure that you got your A? Who was the one who beat up Gatenmaru when he tried to feel you up and touch your panties in gym class one day? And that was before you and I began dating. Who was the one who brought you a lollipop everyday in first grade, just to thank you for sticking up for me that day in the sandbox? Who was the one who freaked out, called 911 for you, and held your hand as you cried on my shoulder when we both thought that you were dying when you got your first period." I began to laugh then, remembering how scared we both were that night. "Who was the one who spent about three hours, trying to convince you that you were beautiful whenever Koga would call you ugly and said that your head was the..."
"The size of a casaba mellon," I finished it up for him, "yes I remember that vividly. But still..."
"Who was the one who pulled you out of the pool when you almost drowned at Lena's birthday party, when the high school kids threw you in? Who was also the one who spent the rest of that summer teaching you how to swim, no matter how much my father yelled at me for coming home past nine o'clock? Who was the one who took the blame, the suspension from school, and the fatherly ass whooping for you when those girls suckered you into helping them spray paint the gym the night before the big eight grade dance? Who was the one who made you that exploding birthday cake when Rashid-San had to go away for the weekend and left you alone with Li and Tarei, who both forgot it was your eleventh birthday?" I giggled wildly then.
"How did you make the cake explode anyway?"
"You remember that I thought that firecracker that Muso gave me was a candle." I giggled again. My tears began to stop falling as I realized that he was there for me a hell of a lot whenever I needed him to be. He smiled softly as he took a step closer to me. He took my hands in his and began to speak in the most sincere voice I had ever heard him talk in. "I know that I fucked up big time when I left you and wasn't there for you when you were going through such a hard time, but if I truly didn't care about you, then I never would have came back home." He walked back over to the couch with me following him, hands still interlocked. He sat down and pulled me into his lap. He wrapped his arms around my waist tightly and laid his head down on my shoulder. "I never told you this...but when we began dating, I was a little insecure. I was intimidated by all of these full demon boys who still tried to win your heart, even though they knew that you were with a half demon. In the back of my mind I wondered what this beautiful, full fledged panther demon saw in me that made her want to stick by a half demon. I mean, I wasn't as strong or as skilled as a full demon male would be. My human nature was a weakness. Like the saying goes, "Half a demon, half a man.". That's all I could think about when we were going out. Eventually it got so bad, that I began to wonder if I could even satisfy you physically and emotionally like a full demon man could. But I never told you how I felt because I was scared that you would agree with me and really would leave me. I guess that small insecurity was all that Tsubaki's spell needed so it could work. Because that's the only reason I can honestly think of for why I wanted to leave you." I listened intensely as I ran my fingers through his hair while he laid against me. So that's why he wanted to leave? Because he was insecure about his demonic nature and he thought that I would leave him for a full demon male? So he left before I could? I moved from his knee and straddled his lap so I would be face to face with him. I reached up and put my hands on his cheeks.
"You should have know that I wasn't going to leave you for a full demon. I'm dead serious when I say that I like you fine the way you are. Even Superman had a weakness, but that didn't change the fact that he was the Man of Steel. You were always important to me Naraku and you didn't need some stupid jewel to change who you were. I never would want you to leave." He stared at me intensely as he began to run his hands up and down my back.
"If this is true...then I want to know. Do you still love me?"
"Yes. I still love you."
"Are you still in love with me?" I was quiet for a few moments. I continued to look deep into his eyes and realized that I couldn't fight my emotions anymore.
"Yes. I am still in love with you." As soon as I answered him, Naraku pulled me closer and we engaged in an extremely passionate kiss. I closed my eyes tightly and wrapped my arms around his neck as I kissed him back with an equal amount of passion. One of Naraku's hands disappeared into my hair, while the other one still was planted firmly on my back. The way we kissed was unlike any other time before. It was as sweet as a first kiss, but as firey as a kiss that two lovers share right before they make love. After a while, the latter feeling of the kiss began to take over and we were quickly beginning to lose ourselves in each other's lips. Naraku's tongue had found it's way into my mouth and we now explored each other with great intensity. Before I knew it, his shirt had been discarded to the floor and mine had been unbuttoned and now hung loosely around my elbows. "Oh Narakuuuu," I moaned as his lips began to tread over my neck, but the sudden vocalization of his name seemed to snap me back into reality. Like before, my concience began to speak to me. Even though I loved Naraku, my love for Sesshoumaru still burned strong and my comittment to him stiffled my desire for Naraku to make love to me. This was the first time since he came back that I had an unbelievable urge and need for Naraku to touch me. For him to just take me and make love to me. For him to hold me in those big strong arms of his and kiss me like there was no tomorrow. But I wasn't ready to give up on Sesshoumaru yet. I pulled away from him and climbed off of his lap. "I'm sorry Naraku, but I can't," I said as I turned away from him and began to rebutton my shirt. He sighed deeply.
"Sesshoumaru?" He already knew the cause of my hesitation. I nodded my head again.
"I should leave," I declared as I began to walk to the door, but Naraku grabbed my arm to stop me. I gasped as he pulled me back to him until my body was right against his.
"Don't leave me all alone tonight," he requested as he caressed one of my cheeks. "I might not be able to make love to you like I want to, but at least let me hold you tonight. Let me play Superman, if only for tonight." I didn't say anything as I let my hands begin to wonder over his firm, nude chest. I knew that I should leave because spending the night with him would only put my relationship with Sesshoumaru in jeporady. But for some reason, it just felt so...so right to be with Naraku tonight. I couldn't leave him all alone and to be honest, I didn't want to. At that moment, the only person who I wanted to be next to tonight was Naraku. It had almost been six years since the last time I was close to him and to be honest, it felt long overdue.
"Alright," I agreed, my voice barely above a whisper, "I'll spend the night with you." Naraku smiled like that was the best news that he had heard in his life. He gave me another firm kiss on the lips before leading me hand in hand to his bedroom, where we fell asleep in each others arms. At that moment, no one else in the world mattered. No one else seemed to exist anymore. It was just him and I. Absolutely no one else.
A/N: I bet you all thought that would be fruity, huh? lol
