Rin glanced up at the clocked and realized there were only 15 minutes left to the work day. She sighed as she thought of how she was going to organize everything on her desk so that she knew exactly where to pick up when she got back to work tomorrow. Her thoughts were abruptly ended when her phone rang. She jumped out of her skin first all of because she had never heard her phone rung, but secondly because she didn't know that the previous owner of the desk had turned up the ringer very loudly to be rather rude to his co-workers.
Many of her co-workers stopped what they were doing and Rin felt the stares of a few people as they peeked around the corner of her cubicle to get a look at her. "Can someone tell me how to turn down the volume on the ringer?" she asked out loud.
The guy in the next cubicle, Ginta, assured her that he knew what he was doing and fiddled around with the phone until the person on the other line hung up. He apologized to her and then pressed the button a few times and assured her that it would be a more reasonable volume before returning back to his desk.
The phone rang again only a minute later and this time Rin grabbed it quickly rather ashamed that she had not answered it before asking for help with the volume. "Hello," she asked timidly.
She had not expected to hear the bass voice on the other side of the receiver. "Rin, this is Sesshomaru. I was thinking about you today." Rin's cheeks flushed a bright red and she was grateful that he was unable to see her at this moment. She had been sitting but decided at this moment that it was best if she sat down and busied herself with closing out the open windows on her computer to keep herself somewhat distracted from saying something that might end up being embarrassing. "You see, Kagome called me today."
"Oh?" She stopped her activity on the computer and instead started fiddling with her pen turning it about in her right hand as her left hand rapped on the desk.
"Yes, she said that she was rather surprised to find out from you yesterday that we knew each other," he lied to her. He was sitting in his car as he drove from the office to his home, his cell phone mounted on his center console, a ear piece attached to his ear. As he watched the traffic move at a crawling pace in front of him he listened intently to any noises from the other side of the phone that might give away what she was doing. "From what I understand, you enjoyed our breakfast the other day."
Rin's breath caught in her throat, which did not escape Sesshomaru's hearing, and she ceased fiddling with her pen. Regaining her composure she said, "I did. It's nice to be able to talk to someone for a long period of time about so many things." It had indeed been a long time since she had few friends in high school and college with which to converse with, at least one on one. Her parents had died early, and none of her foster parents had had time for her either.
"I must agree with you," he admitted quietly despite that fact that no one was around to hear his confession save for Rin. "I was hoping that perhaps we could get together again on Thursday night for dinner. I know that's only two days away, but I thought that perhaps you wouldn't be busy."
"I'm not busy," Rin said enthusiastically and then she came to her senses realizing that it almost sounded desperate to have his company. She slapped her forehead earning a 'whapping' sound that was audible to her co-workers, who were not heading to the elevator, and to the demon on the other side of the phone.
Thankfully he chuckled at her response and behavior allowing her a moment of relief. "Good, then I will pick you up from work when you get off," he offered her. She nodded her head to show that she was agreement with his offer but then realized that he could not see her so she grunted out a quick 'yes' that his demons ears were able to hear but a human ear would not have been able to. He bid her a goodnight and then pressed a button to end the call.
Sesshomaru's eyes focused on the car in front of him, but his mind was elsewhere. He had waited all day for this call, and now he felt like a silly high school girl waiting for the chance to call the boy she was in puppy love with. Somehow though he could not help it; Rin just had that type of power over him.
Rin, on the other hand, had folded her arms on the desk in front of her and was banging her forehead against them repeatedly. She had felt like such a fool on the phone that she hoped it would not drive him away. As the CEO of a company, he would not want to be seen with a 'silly girl', and if she wanted him to take her seriously, she would need to get a better hold on her emotions.
He picked her up the next evening at the front of her building. It was quite a bold move to pick her up in front of the building, but almost all of her co-workers were currently heading to their cars in the parking garage. She walked slowly to the car hoping not to any eagerness, but in doing so she walked a little slower than she normally did. He got out and opened the car door for her and closed it behind her before walking around to get back into the driver's seat.
Before they knew it, they were at his home and seated for another delicious meal prepared by his cook. "I do hope you enjoy fish," he said to her knowing full well that she had preferred fish in her previous life.
"I do like fish," she said reassuring him that she was just like her past self. "I guess it's an easy pick since most people like fish," she giggled but then closed her mouth immediately.
Sesshomaru sensed her resentment at acting so foolish in front of him, so to calm he said, "I do find that I enjoy talking to you since you are much unlike the rest of the people I see everyday. Most are intimidated by my position."
"But someone in your position has to be formal with people," she offered him.
He gave her a genuine smile again as he said to her, "Sometimes it is nice to let down the formalities and relax with someone." He was referring to a mate, but she missed his message. Instead she just nodded her head as she thought over his words and picked at her food eating it slowly. The following five minutes of silence was silently killing Sesshomaru inside so he finally asked her about her life before the previous week.
She told him about her parents dying when she was only 7 by some robbers who left her alone. From that point on she was shuffled between foster parents, none of which cared for her in the way most parents cared for their children. She worked her way through high school and college to pay for her schooling and was out of school only a week before getting the interview at his company.
He listened to her silently nodding his head every few minutes to let her know that he was still listening. She had lived a difficult life, which seemed consistent with her previous life, but she always seemed to get through everything with a cheerful attitude.
After dinner they retired to the living room where she impressed him with her piano playing He sat there watching her the whole night saying little but listening intently. It had been a long time since he was able to be with anyone like this allowing them to see him at his leisure, and he wished for it to return to him again. In the back of his mind he planned the next time he would "run" into her in hopes of spending some more time.
