Corona
By: The Hatter Theory
Chapter 13: Silent Fire
Disclaimer: I don't own Inu Yasha. I lovee my fandom though.
Warnings: Limey for mention of sex acts, but no sex acts.
CreARTive, my deviantart account is now linked to on my profile page here on FF. (I don't art, so I have nothing posted, but I do have an account lol). I would love to see some of your art.
Everyone, thank you so much for your reviews!
The gig the next night was a nightmare. Sango found a rip in her costume and Koharu was over half an hour late. Miroku had a headache that was making it hard to focus and while Sesshoumaru wandered around in nothing but traditional hakama she couldn't focus at all. Inu Yasha was grumbling about something, snapping at everyone that even spoke to him and Kouga was smiling smugly, content that he wouldn't be performing.
The only thing going right was her green compound. She'd tested it with Sesshoumaru earlier in the day and he'd given the okay to use it that night. Everyone else knew what to expect, but none of them had seen it. Stomach in knots as everyone hurried to finish getting ready, she chanced a peek outside, feeling even more anxious when she saw the people scattered on blankets in a rough semicircle waiting.
"Kagome, you remember the change?" Sesshoumaru asked. She nodded, moving to the side as Miroku and Kohaku ran out. They'd changed the order of the routines, moving her and Sesshoumaru's fight to the end.
Any sense of dissonance vanished as the show moved on. When Sesshoumaru moved to battle Inu Yasha, she grabbed her fans from their basins and expertly flicked them. Inu Yasha fell and his sword puttered out, smoking in the darkness. Taking her signal to enter, she ran from the tent and lunged at Sesshoumaru, a war cry echoing through the night.
For half a minute they circled an lunged at one another before she brought two fans up in a defensive position over her face as his sword, the flames a bright, true red, touched them.
Green fire raced down the length of the kevlar, adding a new noise to the sound of the fire on his blade. The sound was like a flag being blown by a strong wind as they continued their routine, varied only a little by the addition of the second fan. All of her tension seeped away as they moved through the steps of their mock battle.
He spun in the air almost perfectly horizontal like a corkscrew, a new move added to lead into the second half of her part. Perfectly timed, he circled her, the red flames going out to lead a trail of smoke ringing her body. The sword dropped and she began dancing around him.
In the last several weeks her body had changed drastically, and the memory of her intimacies with Sesshoumaru spurred her on. Determined to be the seductive spirit, the woman so unlike her normal self, she remembered how he had held her, moved her, and let memories guide her body. Now she was more than a student, even more than a fire dancer. Feeling strangely feminine, seductive, she let her body and the fire around her combine to create a spell. Not for the people watching them,but for Sesshoumaru. Moving lithely, she cut him off when he tried to move off the field, giving the impression to the crowd that he was trapped. Each step brought her a little closer, and the green fire reflected off of his skin, casting him in an eerie glow.
She was less than two feet away when she snapped her fans shut, creating two small points of light before proceeding to hover it over his skin. Daring not to fumble, knowing how much trust he was placing in her, she moved with a practiced hand and brought them up on either side of his shoulders and snapped the fans open, keeping her hips moving the whole time as Miroku had shown her.
The green flames hid his face from onlookers, but not from her. His eyes reflected the flame and his expression was hungry as she brought the fans back to her and twisted and turned, trying to keep her movements sensual. Feeling as if she was being devoured by his eyes helped, and when the flames began to dim she slammed the fans shut again, spinning on the front balls of her feet until they went out and trailed smoke. Surrounded by a gray haze, she dropped to the ground, her dance over.
Applause echoed through the night and she stood and walked away, having been instructed to never bow. Sesshoumaru followed her in to the tent, where everyone stood waiting, slackjawed.
"That was amazing," Sango breathed.
"Thank you, the green took forever-" Kagome started.
"No, I mean, that was amazing too, but your dancing. Just, wow," Sango added lamely. Everyone nodded in response, making her flush heavily.
"Thanks," She murmured quietly before everyone broke apart and began getting their things together. The men exited to let Sango and Kagome change, and that was when Kagome ventured her question.
"Sango, I know this is really last minute, but can we hang out tonight, you know, girl time?" Kagome asked.
"Sure. Anything wrong?" Sango asked, the question muffled as she pulled on her shirt.
"Not wrong," Kagome admitted. "I just, this is definitely just girl talk."
"Oh, I think I can guess," Sango chuckled as she hopped, pulling on her shorts. "I'll let Miroku know I need the car tonight, I'll ask Kouga or Sesshoumaru drop the others off."
They both cleaned their faces and exited the tent. The crowd had dispersed, their show apparently being the end of their picnic. Sango began talking to Kouga and the man nodded an agreement after a moment. Taking that as a signal to talk to Sesshoumaru, she stopped him before he went into the tent.
"Sango and I are going to go have some dinner," She hedged shyly. He caught on immediately and gave an approving nod.
"I will see you tomorrow," He promised before stepping into the tent, the flap closing behind him. When Kagome joined Sango, the woman was explaining the change of plans to her boyfriend, who also nodded knowingly.
"You ladies spend too much time with men. Go have some girl time," He commanded, pointing them at Sango's car. "We'll take care of everything here."
Waving and calling out their goodbyes they got into Sango's car, which once again was a mess. Before they'd even pulled away from the group Sango was asking the question Kagome feared.
"Did you guys take the big step?"
Kagome was quiet for several minutes, trying to formulate an answer.
"I'm not sure," She admitted, earning a choking sound from the driver.
"How can you not be sure?" Sango demanded as she pulled from the dirt road onto a paved one.
"We did, stuff, but not, I mean- Kami, I don't know what I mean," Kagome groaned, covering her face with both hands, hoping some of the cold in her fingers would seep into her cheeks.
"Did you two have sex?" Sango asked bluntly.
"Define sex," Kagome bit out, more impatient with herself than anything.
"Umm, well, there's oral sex-"
"No."
"Normal, penis in the vagina sex?"
"No."
"He didn't talk you into anal did he?" Sango asked, aghast.
"NO!" Kagome shouted, surprising them both, the wheel jerking in Sango's hand abruptly. She righted the car before continuing.
"Okay, what happened?" She asked slowly.
"The first time we were just kissing," Kagome explained. At Sango's nod she continued. "I was on top of him, and we were moving against each other and I, well, you know."
"You came? From dry humping?"
Somehow the way she said it made it sound so raunchy, something Kagome was not at all comfortable with at the moment.
"Is that bad?" Kagome ventured.
"No, it's just, I mean, unusual I guess. Was it your first?"
"Yeah."
"Well, maybe it's not that unusual then. My first was self induced, so I mean, it could be similar," Sango reasoned. "But you said the first time?"
"Then he umm, caught me in the shower."
"And?"
"I reminded him that I couldn't do anything really advanced yet, you know? He promised not to touch me, so he put his hand over mine and sort of guided it."
Sango was quiet for a minute, eyes on the road. Nervous tension began churning in her stomach as she waited for a reply from her friend.
"When did this stuff happen?" Sango finally asked.
"Yesterday," Kagome admitted in a small voice.
"Yesterday. YESTERDAY?" Sango shouted, swerving again. "You mean the shower at the gym?"
"It was a reward," Kagome defended hotly.
"For what?"
"Doing a flip in the air," Kagome groaned, feeling like an idiot for even bringing it up. But Sango's hearty laugh made her feel slightly better as the other woman shook her head and smiled.
"If Miroku gave me incentives like that I'd memorize routines faster," She joked. "So you guys have essentially moved into the foreplay arena of things. Pretty quickly too, although I can't really say anything. Miroku and I are both terrible at waiting," She hinted. "Is he pressuring you?"
"No, not really. He's stayed inside the boundaries."
"You don't sound terribly thrilled about that," Came the dry observation.
"I don't know what the boundaries are. I mean, he's seen me naked, and touched me there, kind of."
"It's foreplay," Sango shrugged. "Which can go on until you're comfortable with going further. The only rules are the ones you set." The way she said it made it sound normal and simple, enticing a note of envy in Kagome. She didn't feel normal, and the situation didn't feel simple in the least.
"What about a guy's rules?" Kagome inquired.
"I don't think they have any," Sango quipped dryly as she parked. They got out and walked into the all night diner, taking a booth in the far corner. Once a waitress had taken their drink orders they contemplated the menu for brief seconds before deciding their orders. Drinks arrived, burgers were ordered, and Kagome stirred hers with a straw nervously.
"I don't know what to do," She finally blurted. Sango regarded her carefully before responding.
"Do what exactly?"
"I don't know if I'm ready to go all the way with him yet," Kagome admitted. "When he did those things, I wanted to keep going, but I was scared. I have no idea what to do or say. I mean, I feel like an idiot when it's over, because I'm just standing there like some clueless kid."
"That's pretty normal," Sango admitted. "Miroku wasn't my first. But I was really nervous before I lost it. And everyone is different after. Some people cuddle, some get up and go about their business. Kuranosuke used to get really hyper after, wanting to go and so something or clean."
Kagome couldn't imagine cleaning after such an experience. The first experience had left her feeling warm and drained. That combined with the warmth of Sesshoumaru beneath her had been enough to pull her into a lazy doze despite the strange position they'd been in.
"How long were you and Miroku together before doing it?"
"A few weeks," Sango admitted, blushing hotly. "Inu Yasha introduced us, for the troupe. At first I thought he was just a pervert, so I ignored him. But eventually I started developing feelings for him, despite his tendency to play grab ass with other women. So we started seeing each other. Nothing obvious at first. We wanted to see how it would go before telling the troupe, in case it didn't work out. After the accident it was hard to hold back. Then Inu Yasha slept with Kouga's girlfriend and we had to hide it from Sesshoumaru."
"Am I going too fast?" Kagome finally asked as the waitress sat the plates down and walked off.
"You're the only one that can decide that," Sango shrugged before taking a huge bite of her hamburger and groaning appreciatively. Kagome chewed in thoughtful silence before setting the burger down.
"Nothing's different, except for the kissing and-stuff."
"Do you want it to be?"
Kagome thought about it for several minutes, both of them eating in relative quiet. Before she and Sesshoumaru had agreed to do whatever it was they were doing, they'd been friends, at least she liked to think so. Nothing had really changed besides the added sexual tension. Granted, she didn't expect him to suddenly become warm and fuzzy, she wasn't sure if she wanted that from him.
"We're still friends," She admitted.
"That's how it should be though," Sango reasoned. "The man I gave my virginity wasn't my friend. We met at school and were deliriously in love, or so I thought. Constant cuddling and movies, hanging out and working on schoolwork, that sort of thing. Really juvenile, puppy love. We always said I love you, but we never really said anything else. It worked for about a year until I realized we had absolutely nothing in common. I love you was just our way of filling uncomfortable silences."
"So you're saying it's good things haven't changed?" Kagome asked, earning a sage nod from the other woman.
"Would you rather kiss and cuddle someone that you can talk to, or someone that just does the sweet things because it's what people in relationships are supposed to do?"
Kagome saw her point, and nodded, beginning to understand. Not a fan of soaps or romantic movies and books, she really had no clue what relationships were supposed to be like. Initially the lack of change in their relationship had worried her, but she was beginning to wonder if she was just being unrealistic. Not only that, but childish too. The idea of losing Sesshoumaru as a friend to fall into an empty relationship like the one Sango described was as bad as him hating her, at least in her opinion.
"I'd rather we just be friends than lose it for some kisses," Kagome admitted, although it was with noticeable reluctance, earning a grin from across the table.
"Which is good. Sesshoumaru, well, he's Sesshoumaru. And while you guys have been making googoo eyes at each other since you first met, you've only just changed the nature of your relationship. Don't worry about taking it so quickly. It's okay to take time and acclimate. Sesshoumaru's patient, and if he's not, then he's not worth spending the time on."
"It just feels like longer," Kagome sighed before finishing her burger off, not even remembering what it had tasted like.
"It can when you've been hanging out a lot before deciding to make it more official."
The waitress came and took their plates, and Sango ordered two sundaes with a smile before turning back to Kagome, grinning.
"So what was he like?"
What do you mean?" Kagome asked, confused.
"I just have a hard time imagining Sesshoumaru lost in the throes of passion," Sango laughed. "He's always so serious and in control."
Kagome flushed brightly, remembering how in control he had been both times, and that before Sango's comment she had attributed it to her lack of experience. Now she wasn't so sure though.
"He was still in control," Came the shy confession. "I thought he was showing me, I mean, you know."
"I don't think I do." It was said in a lightly teasing tone, but Kagome took it in all seriousness.
"He told me, like he knew I was about to orgasm, and just told me to let it happen."
The sundaes almost tipped on the table as the waitress sat them down, her face bright red as she made her apologies and rushed away. Cups clattered loudly as the teenager tried stacking them only to fail. The resounding noise of plastic cups hitting the tile floor echoed heavily, earning a shout from the kitchen area. Acutely embarrassed and feeling like the shout was directed at her, she sunk lower into the booth, trying to avoid invisible eyes staring down at her disapprovingly.
"Oh, dominant in bed too huh?" Sango laughed, gaze leaving the waitress to come back and rest on her. When her statement was met with several oblique blinks Sango stopped laughing.
"Have you looked into sex at all before?"
"No. I mean, I figured it was something saved for marriage," Kagome defended hotly, still embarrassed by the waitress's reaction.
"You have to date to get married," Sango pointed out. "And sometimes dating can lead to sex. You've never been curious?"
Kagome shrugged again, feeling abnormal and childish once more.
"Look, it's okay. Some people have different priorities. Your mom doesn't seem the type to encourage dating," Sango pointed out dryly, making her feel better. "So I'm pretty sure she didn't give you the sex talk either. I learned from girlfriends mostly, and trial and error, only earlier than you did. You're just a late bloomer."
"I'm sick of being a late bloomer," Kagome growled, growing frustrated with herself. "I feel so silly compared to everyone else."
"Don't be," Sango reassured. "It's not a bad thing. Besides, you're actually going about it better than I thought you would. Miroku was worried this was all just a rebellion against your mom."
"I wouldn't do that just to get back at my mom!" The declaration rang through the almost empty diner, drawing the attention of the other patrons and the crimson faced teenager behind the counter, who looked ready to run out of the door at this point. Groaning Kagome slumped and let her head thump onto the table.
"Hey, I know. Miroku just likes to worry about everything."
"I'm an idiot," Kagome bit out.
"No, just inexperienced. Don't let it bother you and don't let it be the reason for going past your own limits is all I'm trying to say. If Sesshoumaru isn't pushing you to do anything you don't want to do, then why are you worried?"
"Because-" Kagome started, then stopped, remembering her supposed breach of etiquette by thanking him. "I told him thank you," She blurted, horrified. A plate dropped and broke on the floor. Kagome said a small prayer for the girl that was obviously listening and silently promised to leave a generous tip.
"And that's bad?"
"Isn't it?"
"I do it all the time," Sango laughed. "Miroku loves it. Makes him feel manly or something, like a job well done. Sometimes I think men are convinced dismantling a bomb would be easier."
"Sesshoumaru said people don't normally say thank you."
"Maybe not the women he's been with," Came the swift rebuttal. Kagome nodded, eyes widening as she took another bite of her sundae. "After Miroku's done and I'm all glowy and warm, I kiss him on the lips or his jaw and just whisper thank you. According to him, it's like being given one of the national treasures."
"So I might have done it wrong?"
"How did you do it?"
"After, when we were leaving the parking garage-"
"Parking-Do I even want to ask?"
"We needed to talk about-something and ended up making out and, well. It happened, okay?"
"If you're not careful he's going to take your virginity in a cemetery or something," Sango snorted.
"A cemetery? Why would anyone do it there? That sounds creepy." Another involuntary shudder ran down her spine as she thought about it, the image laced with cobwebs, spiders and snakes, and she said so. Sango found her reaction hilarious if her uncontrollable laughter was anything to go by.
"It was a metaphor. Have you guys done anything in the privacy of a room?"
The only bedroom they'd been in together at the same time had been at Sango's apartment. She wasn't even sure what his looked like, and she knew he'd never been in hers, probably never would be if her mother had anything to say about it. The obvious answer going unspoken, Sango ran a hand through her hair and leaned back.
"Try making out in a bedroom, or even his living room, something, before going any further. See what it's like when it's just the two of you in a private place."
"Thanks Sango," Kagome finally said, finishing her sundae off. "I know I can be really frustrating-"
"No, you're not," Sango broke in. "Frustrating is trying to be friends with females that are either devoid of any personality or jealous as hell. Kouga and Inu Yasha have crappy taste. You're fun to talk to, and this isn't that bad, it's what girlfriends are for. It's just weird, imagining Sesshoumaru making out with someone, much less having sex."
Kagome couldn't imagine him having sex in anything but an abstract way. Most of her prior illusions involving candles, rose petals and softly playing music had been dispelled by the incident in the shower, although she was finding she wasn't adverse to the change. Just disoriented as her perceptions shifted.
"You were the one that kept trying to get us together."
"Yeah, but I don't think anyone thought past that. I mean, you two were obviously attracted to one another, despite the differences."
"We're not that different," Kagome retorted defensively, earning nothing but an incredulous stare.
"You're as different as the sun and moon," Sango declared confidently. "Which also isn't bad. If you were both the same, you'd get bored of each other."
"Dating makes no sense."
"Not supposed to," Sango said, relaxing fully into the chair. "If it did, it would be easy and everyone would be happy. You're used to textbooks and absolutes. With people there aren't any, ever."
"That's comforting," Kagome muttered dryly.
"It should be. It means life will never get too boring. Speaking of people though, how's it going with your mom?"
Kagome hesitated to speak on that subject. It seemed as the rest of her life began taking off, her relationship with her mother spiraled deeper and deeper into silence. Now that she had learned what she'd eschewed to please her mother she couldn't help but be angry at the woman. Nodoka's continued silence only served to agitate a resentment that was dangerously close to the surface, threatening to burst out at any second.
"She's still not talking to me," Kagome admitted. "I knew she'd be angry, but she's acting like I killed someone."
"Maybe it's her way of coping with the fact that you finally got out of the nest on your own."
"I'm still her daughter!"
"I know that, and you know that. But when she wasn't looking you became someone different. Even I can tell the difference, and I haven''t known you that long."
"She should be happy that I'm happy though. I mean, it's not like I dropped out and married someone like she was scared I would. I'm still getting good grades and I even settled on a major. I have a better grasp on who I am now."
"And she doesn't," Sango reasoned as she threw some money on the table and got up. Kagome pulled a few banknotes from her wallet and added to it before following her out, contemplating the simple statement her friend had made.
"Maybe if you try to include her somehow. You know the new promo shoot? Bring her to that and let her see how happy this makes you."
Sango made it sound incredibly easy, and Kagome knew it wasn't, couldn't be. Even talking to her mother was impossible. How was she supposed to get her out to the photo shoot? Kagome voiced her concerns and Sango shrugged idly.
"Fine, then after Shippou finishes taking photos, we'll come to her, and she won't have a choice."
"She could stay inside."
"Somehow I doubt that."
Kagome wasn't sure if she found Sango's easy assurance comforting or not.
He waited for the door to open, almost giving into the urge to tap his foot impatiently. Not for the first time he wondered why he was doing this, and reminded himself that it was better to look like a deviant than a careless slob. When the door opened, Koharu was smiling and already had gloves on.
"Come on!" Koharu laughed. "You know, I didn't quite believe you when you called and said you wanted a touch up. I thought you were too angry to let me anywhere near your hair again," She admitted. "Inu Yasha is still paranoid when I do his makeup."
He let her chatter as they went to the bathroom and asked him to sit on the commode. Immediately she swooped down, hands full of clips that swiftly separated his long hair into thick chunks. She made cooing noises, something that still disturbed him, as she commented about how soft his hair was and how amazing her conditioning formula was. He smelled the bitter, chemical smell of the bleach as she began applying it.
"So I noticed Sango and Miroku being really lovey dovey," She finally stated, leaving it to hang in the air like a question as she squirted another long line of bleach along his roots and brushed it into the black hair.
He had tuned her out and said nothing, but when she cleared her throat he came to.
"Hnn."
"You always do that. Did you rescind the rule about troupe members dating? Sango and Miroku are acting really sweet on each other."
"They are in a relationship," He said plainly, making an angry sound when she jerked a separated chunk of hair. Whether it was from shock or anger he couldn't tell, but either way her reaction was unwarranted and unwanted.
"I thought you had a rule about troupe members dating," She huffed angrily, relaxing her hold and going back to working the bleach into his hair.
He realized that he should have brought Kagome for this, but it was an off day for him and she had a class. For some reason he had wanted to have it done before he picked her up for practice, and irrational, inexplicable urge he'd given into the night before when he'd called the troupe's makeup artist. Clearly he must have been tired for even thinking it, much less going through with it.
Stuck, he considered not answering. Unlike most people, tense silences did not bother him. However, unlike other people, he was at the mercy of a woman that could wreck his hair and force him to shave his head, giving him little room to maneuver.
"Kagome and I are-" What? Boyfriend and girlfriend? The titles sounded childish and juvenile. But they weren't lovers yet either, although kami knew at this point he was looking forward to the moment that changed. "Seeing each other." There, that covered it easily, and betrayed nothing of his own growing hunger. "Allowing Miroku and Sango to admit their feelings."
Because he wasn't going to tell her that they'd been seeing each other for at least a few months without her knowing. While he was used to administering hard truths, he was not going to do so to his own detriment. The diminutive onna standing over him made a small noise and he prayed she didn't cry. When several minutes later there was a shaky inhale, she muttered a small congratulations and continued her work in silence. When she finished, she crouched in front of him, frowning.
"Your eyebrows are too dark."
Oh, that was going too far-
"It looks kind of ridiculous."
Her words would not get to him, and bleaching his eyebrows was a step he was not willing to take. He could look ridiculous to others, because other people's opinions didn't matter. His eyebrows were going to remain untouched by the vile mixture he was forcing on his hair.
"You look like you're wearing a wig. Granted, a good one, but doing your eyebrows will make it look natural."
What was natural about a japanese man with white hair and eyebrows before old age?
"Just let me do it, if you don't like it, I know I can afford enough henna and indigo to redo them," She pleaded, neglecting to mention how long it would take for the powders to arrive from offline. "Please?"
He inclined his head, giving in gracefully. Not like he had much choice, her fingers were already coated in the white concoction and hovering near his face. The jibe about looking like he was wearing a wig stuck, and if anything else, his eyebrows would grow back to normal fairly quickly if it ended up looking ridiculous.
She quickly applied the bleach to his eyebrows and surprised him by taping foil down over them.
"I'll go get some lunch, okay? I'll be back before the hour is up. Do whatever," She offered before heading out of the bathroom. Surprised she'd leave him in her home, alone, he chalked it up to her need to go somewhere and vent away from him, which was just fine. Ignoring the mirror as he left the bathroom, he headed straight for the dining room table and opened his laptop, eager to check an email.
Logging onto the building's wifi, he opened his inbox, pleased when he saw a response telling him that he was welcome any time he wished to come by. Checking for any inquiries from possible customers before closing out his inbox, he opened excel and began going over the business numbers for the past eight months.
Since Kagome had joined, there had been a swift upturn in their profits, although her timing had more to do with it than anything. In the spring people wanted more and more outdoor entertainments. Word of mouth was doing half of their promoting for them, and he briefly considered taking down some of his online advertisements to save money before eschewing the idea. The business itself was picking up, and with Kouga's funding, because the reckless spender loved to buy things for the troupe, there was little worry about using the profits to buy new equipment. In four more months it wouldn't matter, and he was certain that unless something catastrophic happened, the troupe would continue on that long.
Allowing himself a moment of hope, he contemplated a life beyond the rabbit hole he lived in, one where he was back in his father's good graces. Days he was not in school would be spent in the office learning the ins and outs of running a large corporation, things that school couldn't teach him. Numbers were all well and good, but in the bid for power and corporate domination a subtle touch was necessary, and though he already had a good grasp of the politics of business, he knew there was still more to learn.
There would be no fire, no performances, no more feeling like a clown forced to amuse others for money. Likewise, the troupe would dissolve, or become something else. Perhaps it would continue on without the presence of it's original owners. He could gift the entirety of it, name and all, to them to do with what they would.
It seemed an ideal gift, along with a generous sum to help them along, not that they would need it with Izayoi funding their schooling as she was. All of them would come out the better for having aided both himself and his halfbrother in their endeavor to get back in his father's good graces.
The only thing that was a question was Kagome. Her name hung like a question in the air, silent and soft. Once he regained his family name and moved back into higher circles, he would have to leave her behind, there was no question of that. One could put peacock feathers on a chicken, but it's nature was the same. There was no way she'd ever fit in with his people, being, as most would delicately phrase it, not quite up to the mark. A working class girl with a bright future certainly, but she lacked the two essential things required of anyone in his father's world. Money and pedigree.
Not to mention she would never survive a business dinner, or even those dubbed 'social gatherings' that were merely covers for talk of business and politics. Kagome was a horrible liar and even worse at subterfuge, both things being apparent staples of women in high society.
He shook his head, clearing it of such thoughts, There was no point in thinking like that. In four months he and Kagome would part ways, and that would be that. She had given her assurance that she didn't know what she wanted, but that for now she was comfortable just getting used to dating. It amounted to no harm no foul.
Koharu came back quite some time later, her eyes red and puffy. Giving nothing away as to her feelings, she checked his hair once before giving it another ten or fifteen minutes before dropping the paper bag on the table and heading for the bathroom, another plastic bag in hand. He ignored the food in favor of going through the multitude of photos Shippou had taken over the past several months, noticing for the first time a marked improvement in his technique.
Wondering if the new colors of the fire would throw him off or otherwise affect the photos negatively, he made a note to call and give the teenager to let him know there would be changes to the normal promotions.
Koharu came in and checked his hair again, announcing it ready before walking back into the bathroom. He followed and bent over the edge of the tub. She was not nearly as gentle as Kagome had been as she shampooed the bleach out, her nails scraping his scalp and fingers tugging at the sensitive locks. Resigning himself to his fate -a punishment for his impulsive decision- he kept silent and let her work. She had him turn around and lean over the tub while she removed the foil from his brows and gently washed the bleach out, careful not to get anything in his eyes.
When she made a satisfied noise and began drying his hair, he finally opened them, faintly curious as to how he looked. After she'd slathered his hair in her conditioning formula, she approached him with a q-tip and a little cup filled with a greyish substance that reeked of chemicals.
"What is that?" He bit out, shifting back when she dipped a qtip into the mess and brought it close to his face.
"Your eyebrows are stark white. They need to be a few shades darker than your hair, or it will look just as bad as the black. Stop being such a baby," She snapped impatiently, touching the swab to his eyebrow before he could protest. "Besides, it'll only be on for a few minutes anyway."
Apparently being the bearer of bad news did warrant punishment, or perhaps it was the fact that it had been his call to allow Sango and Miroku to be open about their relationship. That or she was just being surly on principal, because she was unhappy and felt the misery loved company. Instead of miserable, he was only faintly annoyed.
Instead of allowing him to leave the bathroom, she forced him to kneel next to the tub, knees beginning to protest the hard linoleum floor, on the grounds that she'd be washing the dye out of his eyebrows in a few minutes anyway. Ignoring the silence in favor of thoughts of Kagome, he began imagining a next encounter. After practice and an early dinner with the others, they would be relatively free to do as they pleased. If Inu Yasha was persuaded to stay away, he could think of a great many things that would please him, all of them staying neatly within the confines of her self imposed rules.
Koharu washed his eyebrows and once finished, gave a satisfied smile.
"Now you'll look natural. Maybe if Inu Yasha sees this he'll let me touch up his hair and fix his eyebrows."
Doubtful. The moron was still touchy about being anywhere near the girl. It was only because of their father that he hadn't shaved his head entirely and started over. However, any time his hair fell in his face he uttered a small curse and his pale eyes, another similarity to their father, would narrow hatefully.
She left him alone, telling him he had to keep the conditioner in for at least another half hour before washing it out and that he should apply it again the next day. Taking that as the dismissal it was, he wasn't shocked to see the dining area of the small apartment empty when he walked out, forgoing looking at his eyebrows for the moment, still strangely anxious about how they would look.
Using the time to finish a paper, he was surprised when he realized almost an hour had passed in complete and utter silence. Closing his laptop and going to the bathroom, he washed his hair out and dried it awkwardly, trying to get it mostly dry. By the time he finished he was running late to pick Kagome and Inu Yasha up, and he rushed out, phone in hand and thumb pounding out a text message. Closing the door with his foot, he didn't even think about saying goodbye.
Kagome responded that she too was running late, and that she'd meet him wherever he decided to park. Wondering what had caused her to send such a terse, abnormally misspelled text he tossed his things into the car and pealed out of the parking lot. When he finally parked he texted her again to let her know he was on the third level of the parking deck. Nothing came in return for over ten minutes, and he felt a flicker of worry, which was followed by an even stronger flicker of annoyance, mainly at himself for being worried.
When she finally did call, he intentionally waited for three rings to pass before opening the phone.
"Sorry," She sighed, sounding strangely subdued. "There was an accident and I was getting railed at by one of the lab techs while cleaning up the mess. I'm on my way now."
Railed at by one of the lab techs while cleaning up a mess. It sounded like she was working on something to do with her fire dyes, as she had dubbed them, and it had gone wrong. He made an affirmative noise before hanging up, feeling another flicker of worry, this time about her experiments. If something went wrong after the amount of work she put into making sure the formulas weren't volatile, then it was possible for her to come to serious harm, making his own incident look like child's play in comparison. He had endured a chemical fueled fire, but there had been no explosion or truly volatile combustion. His imagination, normally very much within his control, began bringing up images of ambulance gurneys and burned flesh.
For a moment he could smell it again, the acrid smell of his own arm burned so thoroughly the flesh had peeled away before he even understood what was going on. Pain shot up his limb and he reached for it, surprised when his hand clenched on empty air. Still the heat, the throbbing didn't stop, burning an arm that had been cut off months before. Sweat broke out on his brow and his back arced and he braced his feet against the floor in response to the excruciating jolts of pain coursing up the ghost arm and into the remainder of the real one.
"Sesshoumaru!" Kagome shouted, wrenching open his door. "What's wrong?"
Wisely she didn't touch him, although for a moment her hand had hovered over his shoulder. Trying to force the pain back into the dark recesses of his mind, he flinched again when another pulse of white hot agony shot through him. Nausea threatened and his field of vision narrowed, dimming drastically. Certain he could hear his own heart beating, for a moment he wished it would stop, the noise a crashing dissonance in his ears. His eyes closed almost in self defense, the pinpoint of light becoming too bright to bear.
"Inu Yasha, yeah. No, something's wrong with Sesshoumaru. We're on the third level of the parking deck. Hurry!"
On the other side of the pain consuming his whole left side he could feel himself being dragged out of the car and onto the smooth concrete. Immediately the cold began to seep into his skin, easing the burning somewhat.
"Sesshoumaru, tell me what's wrong," Kagome begged, voice thick with tears.
"He doesn't have a fever," Another voice broke in. Recognizing the timber and roughness as that of his half brother, he determinedly pushed the darkness behind his eyes away, opening them and blinking slowly. Two pairs of eyes were staring down at him, the blue ones worried and filled with tears, the pale hazel looking panicked and afraid.
"You back with us?" Inu Yasha asked, voice quavering strangely.
The concrete was blessedly cold and strangely comfortable if he looked past the indignity of his position in the first place.
"What happened?" Kagome whispered, hands finally moving to push his hair away from his face. He ignored the question and pulled himself up, trying to keep steady when he realized he had tried to use both arms, something he hadn't done since since waking up after the amputation. Wobbling precariously, he made a warning sound low in his throat when Inu Yasha moved to help. Once he was upright, he moved himself over to the car and leaned against it, shielded from view by the open car door.
"What happened? Did you have a seizure?" Inu Yasha demanded. "It looked like, I mean. Shit, I don't know what it looked like."
"I felt my arm," He bit out, voice hoarse. Angry with himself, he tried to clench his jaw, but when he did the bones and muscles screamed in protest from their earlier abuse. Car doors opening and closing mixed the the voices of other students, all of which seemed to be outside of the world, filtering in as white noise while Kagome and his half brother watched him carefully, waiting for him to speak again.
"I did some research about, I mean-" Kagome started, then faltered, looking embarrassed. "It's not abnormal to have ghost pains, or to feel it there sometimes."
He'd had ghost pains. Those he'd been able to force to the back of his mind and ignore. This had been something else, like reliving the whole incident. Even know there was a dull ache that refused to quiet, throbbing in time with his pulse.
"Do you need to go to a hospital?" Inu Yasha asked.
"No," He snapped, voice beginning to even out. Even the idea of a hospital was enough to force the dizziness back a little further, although the pain lingered.
"Then we'll get you home. Practice is out for now," Kagome ordered sternly, her tone brooking no room for argument as she got off of her knees and moved over to him, hand held out in offering. Ignoring it, he pushed back against the car and began standing, only to wobble precariously as another wave of heat flared up his not-there arm and dizziness made his vision swim.
"Inu Yasha, you drive." The command was dim and muffled, and for a moment he thought he'd said it until he realized Kagome was still talking and guiding him into the back seat. She slid in next to him and closed the door while Inu Yasha tossed their bags into the front passenger seat and started the car.
"I am fine," He bit out, angry that he'd let them swoop in and begin coddling him. Ignoring the rude noise his half brother made in favor of trying to ride out another wave of heat and an ache that felt bone deep. Next to him Kagome was making soothing noises, but didn't move to touch him. As Inu Yasha raced through traffic he felt every bump and pothole along the way, his body jolting unpleasantly.
Little by little the waves of pain receded and the feeling of having his arm back dissipated entirely. By the time they reached the apartment he no longer felt the effects of the episode at all, and the smell of burnt flesh was nothing more than a memory. However, he did feel tired. Exhausted, in fact, and didn't protest when Kagome accepted the apartment key from Inu Yasha and grabbed their bags. For once his dim witted half brother seemed to understand what he needed, saying he'd tell the others and that he'd call later to check up on them.
The elevator wasn't working, which seemed typical. Climbing the stairs seemed to take forever, Kagome as silent as he the entire time, only moving ahead of him when they reached the door so she could unlock it.
He thought about telling her to go to practice, but the determination that mixed with the worry in her eyes stopped him. He wasn't in the mood to argue, all he wanted to do was get under cold water and banish the lingering memory of that heat. Ignoring her completely, he went to the bathroom and closed the door behind him. It was a testament to his own break from reality that he didn't realize he'd stepped under the water fully clothed. Checking his pocket, he was relieved that he'd had the presence of mind to take out his keys and phone.
A knock sounded at the door and he heard it creak open, the swollen wood scraping against the frame.
"Are you alright?" She asked quietly, eyes wide. He hadn't closed the curtain all the way, and she could see his fully clothed state. Oblivious to his glare, she walked into the shower and stepped in, shivering lightly as her arms wrapped around his torso.
Time passed, he knew it by the puckering of his fingertips and the gradual soaking of her clothes, even though she wasn't under the shower head. Her arms tightened around him, and he couldn't tell if the noises she made were from the cold or tears, muffled as they were in his back. Only when they were both shivering so hard it felt like they were convulsing did the heat vanish completely, leaving them a sopping, silent mess.
She stepped out and returned with towels for both of them. He removed his shirt and dropped it in the base of the stall, the thudding noise it made echoing in the small room before he undid his pants and let them fall to the shower floor. Keeping on his boxers for modesty, he accepted the towel and began drying his face, pausing only when there were two more wet thuds. Looking down he saw recognized the dark blue and purple piles as her jeans and shirt.
When he'd finished patting himself, a halfhearted job at best, she led him from the shower and into the room opposite Inu Yasha's. Not caring that their hair was still soaking, or that their skin was damp and their underwear soaked, he allowed her to pull him down to the futon. The air chilled their skin even further, small shudders running through the both of them as they laid next to one another quietly.
Eventually her leg moved over his and she snuggled deeper into him, warmth beginning to bloom where her skin pressed against his. It was so unlike the burning of the memory that he relaxed into it, sought more of it. As if sensing his want, she threw half of her body over his and inhaled deeply before looking up into his eyes. Surprised that she looked as weary and emotionally rung out as he felt, he shifted enough to kiss her forehead before letting his head fall back onto the pillow.
Sleep followed the action almost immediately, pulling him down into the darkness.
This weeks chapter is brought to you by Cosmic Gate ft Sarah Mclachlan.